The prevalence and clinicopathological features of breast cancer patients with hepatitis B virus infection in China

We performed a case-control study to investigate the prevalence and clinicopathological features of breast cancer patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in China. The clinical data for 2,796 female patients with newly diagnosed, primary breast cancer were evaluated. A total of 234 breast cancer patients with HBV infection (the case group; positive for hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg]) and 444 breast cancer patients without HBV infection (the control group; negative for HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antibody, hepatitis B envelope antigen, hepatitis B envelope antibody, and hepatitis B core antibody) were selected for study. Analysis of the clinicopathological features revealed that the metastatic axillary lymph node ratio was lower in the case group than the control group, as was the proportion of patients with pathological T stage ≥T2. No differences in the expression levels of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, p53, or Ki67 were observed between the case and control groups. These data indicate that the rate of HBV infection is high among female breast cancer patients in China, and that HBsAg-positive breast cancer patients were generally diagnosed at an earlier stage and had fewer lymph node metastases.