Hepatitis B virus and hepatocarcinogenesis

Hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection is the commonest cause of hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV DNA is the most important predictor of hepatocarcinogenesis in HB surface antigen positive patients. We reviewed the mechanism of hepatocarcinogenesis on molecular level with a special emphasis on the role of X-protein. Hepatitis B X-protein communicates with host targets and disturbs cellular functions including cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, signalling, transcriptional regulation, encoding of cytoskeleton, cell adhesion molecules, oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes.