Helicobacter pylori seroprevalence in patients with cirrhosis of the liver and hepatocellular carcinoma

Background: Infection by Helicobacter hepaticus causes chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in mice, and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) genomic sequences have been demonstrated in the liver of patients with HCC. H. pylori infection reportedly occurs with high frequency in patients with cirrhosis but none of the studies has investigated it in subjects with cirrhosis and superimposed HCC. In this case-control study,,we searched for the seroprevalence of H. pylori infection in patients with HCC. Patients and method: Forty-six patients (30 males, 16 females, mean age 69 years) with HCC and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related cirrhosis were compared to 46 sex and age (+/-1 year) matched patients presenting consecutively to the Emergency Department of Molinette Hospital of Torino. All subjects were tested for presence in serum of IgG antibodies against H. pylori and the result was analyzed using the chi-square test. Results: H. pylori seropositivity was more prevalent among patients with HCC (36/46, 78.2%) than in controls (25/46, 54%) (P < 0.05) (OR 3.02, 95% confidence interval [1.12-8.34]). Twenty-five out of 30 (83.3%) male patients showed seropositivity at a variance with 16/30 (53%) in the controls (P < 0.05); 11 out of 16 (68.7%) female patients were seropositive versus 9 out of 16 (56.2%) control subjects (P = n.s.). Conclusion: Seroprevalence of antibodies to H. pylori was found to be higher in patients with HCC than in controls. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of International Society for Preventive Oncology.