HBcrAg is associated with prognosis of hepatitis B virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma in patients after hepatectomy undergoing antiviral therapy

Abstract Serum hepatitis B core‐related antigen (HBcrAg) is considered a surrogate marker of the amount and activity of intrahepatic covalently closed circular DNA. This study aimed to explore the prognostic value of HBcrAg on patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative hepatectomy undergoing antiviral therapy (AVT). Data of 949 consecutive patients with HBV‐related HCC undergoing curative resection between 2010 and 2013 were reviewed. Serum HBcrAg levels were measured at surgery (baseline) for all patients and at the time of 2 years postoperatively (on‐treatment) for those without recurrence. Primary endpoint was tumor recurrence. High HBcrAg levels are associated with malignant phenotypes. HBcrAg independently affected both recurrence and overall survival (OS) in patients with negative hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg−, p = .007 and p = .042, respectively) but not in their positive HBeAg (HBeAg+) counterparts ( p = .100 and p = .075, respectively). Patients with high baseline HBcrAg had higher late, but not early recurrence rates than those with low baseline HBcrAg levels, regardless of HBeAg status (HBeAg+: p = .307 for early, p = .001 for late; HBeAg−: p = .937 for early, p < .001 for late). On‐treatment HBcrAg independently affected late recurrence in patients stratified by both cirrhosis and HBeAg ( p < .001 for all). The predictive power of HBcrAg kinetics for late recurrence was better than that of the baseline and on‐treatment HBcrAg. High HBcrAg levels during long‐term AVT are associated with late recurrence of HCC after hepatectomy. Combining baseline and on‐treatment HBcrAg might be valuable in identifying patients at a high risk of relapse and stratifying surveillance strategies postoperatively.