Introduction : Hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）is the fifth most common cancer worldwide, HCC is the third leading cause of cancer death behind lung and stomach cancer, with nearly 600,000 deaths annually. Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is considered as a major risk factor for HCC development. chronic hepatitis B disease progresses to the late stage with decreased viral replication, cccDNA becomes the predominant form of intrahepatic HBV DNA.

Methods : Samples of tumor and peri-tumor liver tissue were collected from 37 HBV associated HCC patients. Intrahepatic cccDNA was detected relative quantification by using the real-time PCR assay. Compare the amount of Intrahepatic levels of cccDNA in tumor tissue and peri-tumor tissue with different HBeAg states.

Results : In total patients the level of intrahepatic cccDNA in tumor tissue was significantly higher then the peri-tumor tissue. Furthermore, The intrahepatic cccDNA levels in the HBeAg positive group was significantly higher in the tumor tissue than peri-tumor tissue, but there was no significant difference in the HBeAg negative group.

Conclusions : This study demonstrated HBV cccDNA was present in both tumor and peri-tumor tissues in patients with HBV-related HCC. The tumor tissues had a significantly higher level of cccDNA compared to the peri-tumor counterpart, especially in the HBeAg positive group. Combined with the results of previous studies we can speculate that HBeAg-positive patients are more likely to cause HBV-related hepatocarcinogenesis due to the induction of cccDNA.