Mutations in hepatitis B virus polymerase are associated with the postoperative survival of hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Proofreading deficiencies of hepatitis B virus polymerase result in frequent DNA mutations in the hepatitis B virus genome. Here, we performed sequencing analysis of the hepatitis B virus polymerase gene to assess its association with the postoperative survival in 92 patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma by using the Kaplan–Meier method. The 2525, 2733, 2738, 2768, 2946, 3063, 3066, 3109, 31, 529, 735, 939, 1078, 1137, 1383, 1461, 1485, 1544, and 1613 mutation sites were identified as being associated with HCC outcomes by the log-rank test. After adjusting for clinical characteristics by using the Cox hazard model, site 31 (relative risk, 8.929; 95% confidence interval, 3.433–23.22; P = 0.000) in the spacer domain and sites 529 (relative risk, 5.656; 95% confidence interval, 1.599–19.999; P = 0.007) and 1078 (relative risk, 3.442; 95% confidence interval, 1.070–11.068; P = 0.038) in the reverse transcriptase domain of hepatitis B virus polymerase were identified as independent predictors of postoperative survival in hepatitis B virus related hepatocellular carcinoma. The mutations at the 31 (Ser314Pro), 529 (Asp480Asn), and 1078 (Ser663Ala) sites all resulted in amino acid changes in hepatitis B virus polymerase and were associated with shortened life-span. The 31 and 529 sites were located in the overlapping region for the PreS and S genes but did not induce amino acid substitution in these two regions. Our finding of the correlation between hepatitis B virus DNA polymerase mutations and hepatocellular carcinoma survival will help identify the patients subgroup with poor prognosis, and help the clinicians to refine the therapeutic decision individualized.