High seroprevalence of human herpesvirus type 8 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Cirrhosis patients have immunologic insufficiency and a high seroprevalence of human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8). Nearly all hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients are cirrhotic and have immunoabnormalities. This study aimed to assess the HHV-8 seroprevalence and hemograms in HCC patients. Blood samples from 95 HCC patients, 95 age-, sex-, and Child–Pugh class-matched cirrhotics, and 95 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were analyzed for anti-HHV-8 antibodies, HHV-8 DNA, and lymphocyte, monocyte, and platelet counts. HCC patients had lower lymphocyte and platelet counts and a higher monocyte count than the healthy controls (each p < 0.0001). HCC patients, and particularly those with a severe Child–Pugh class, had higher platelet counts than the corresponding cirrhosis patients (p = 0.003 and 0.002, respectively). HHV-8 seropositivity and antibody titers in HCC patients were comparable with values in cirrhosis patients and were much higher than in controls (both p < 0.0001). HCC patients, but not cirrhosis patients, had a higher prevalence of high anti-HHV-8 antibody titers (≥1:160) than healthy controls (p = 0.003). HCC patients with lymphopenia or thrombocytopenia had lower HHV-8 seropositivity than those without lymphopenia and thrombocytopenia (p = 0.04 and 0.01, respectively). One each of HCC and cirrhosis patients were positive for HHV-8 DNA. HCC patients seemed to suffer from less severe or shorter duration of portal hypertension compared with Child–Pugh class-matched cirrhosis patients. HCC patients had a high HHV-8 seroprevalence, which seemed to be inversely associated with lymphopenia and thrombocytopenia.