Hepatitis B Virus Infection Is Associated with Poor Prognosis in Patients with Advanced Non Small Cell Lung Cancer

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been reported to be associated with inferior prognosisin hepatocellular and pancreatic carcinoma cases, but has not been studied with respect to non small cell lungcancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of HBV infection inadvanced NSCLC patients. Materials and
Methods: A retrospective cohort of 445 advanced NSCLC patientswas recruited at our hospital from January 1, 2003 until August 30, 2014. Serum HBV markers were tested byenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. COX proportional hazards analysis was used to evaluate associations ofHBV infection with overall survival (OS).
Results: Of 445 patients who were qualified for the study, 68 patientswere positive for HBsAg, also considered as HBV infection. Patients in HBsAg negative group were found tohave better OS (12.6 months [12.2-12.9]) than those in HBsAg positive group (11.30 months [10.8-11.9]; p=0.001).Furthermore, COX multivariate analysis identified HBV infection as an independent prognostic factor for OS(HR 0.740 [0.560, 0.978], p=0.034).
Conclusions: Our study found that HBsAg-positive status was an independentprognostic factor for OS in patients with advanced NSCLC. Future prospective studies are required to confirmour findings.