[Hepatitis C virus RNA in tumor tissues of Chinese liver cancer patients].

A total of 38 specimens of liver cancer and pericancerous tissues from 30 hepatocellular carcinoma patients were studied for hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA by RT-PCR using primers from the s'non-coding regions of HCV viral genome. Serum anti-HCV of these patients was also assayed as a marker of infection. The results showed that 10/30 (33.3%) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients were infected by HCV, while 23/30 (76.7%) by hepatitis B virus (HBV). The HCV RNA from liver cancer tissues were characterized by type II and III through restriction enzyme digestion. Sequencing of the 5'-NC regions amplified revealed that this region was conserved. Since 8 of the 10 HCV infected HCC patients were coinfected with HBV, chronic infection caused by HCV and HBV might be one of the factors leading to HCC.