Page 698 - Read Online

Fung et al. Hepatoma Res 2018;4:62 I http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-5079.2018.92 Page 11 of 12

lamivudine era, and hence accounts for the high rate of virological rebound due to the development of rtM204
mutations. The virological rebound observed would likely have impact on the predictive value of quantitative
HBsAg in predicting HCC recurrence. Thirdly, there was a lower proportion with deceased-donor LT with a
lower recurrence rate, thus precluding any comparison with those undergoing living-donor LT.

To conclude, serum hs-HBsAg levels of ≥ 0.0005 IU/mL at 3-6 months after LT have been shown to be
associated with higher rates of early HCC recurrence, and may be a useful tool as an early tumour marker in
the post transplant setting.

DECLARATIONS
Acknowledgements
Dr. Shintaro Oagawa exams the hs-HBsAg assay.

Authors’ contributions
Planning and conduction of study, collecting and interpreting data, drafting manuscript: Fung J
Conduction of study, laboratory supervision and work, critical appraisal: Wong DKH
Laboratory work, critical appraisal: Tanaka Y, Ng K
Laboratory work, collecting and interpreting data, critical appraisal: Lo R
Conduction of study, collecting data, critical appraisal: Wong T, Chok KSH, Chan ACY, Cheung TT, Dai
WC, Ng K
Laboratory supervision and work, critical appraisal: Kwan M, Ng I
Conduction of study, critical appraisal: Seto WK
Design of study and critical appraisal: Lai CL
Planning & design of study, critical appraisal, and study supervision: Yuen MF
Critical appraisal and study supervision: Lo CM

Availability of data and materials
On request.

Financial support and sponsorship
None.

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
This study has been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was
obtained from all patients for collection and storage of clinical specimens for use in the current project, and
approved by the Ethics Committee Institutional Review Board of the University of Hong Kong/Hospital
Authority Hong Kong Western Cluster (UW 05-359 T/1022).

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2018.

REFERENCES
1. Ferlay J, Shin HR, Bray F, Forman D, Mathers C, Parkin DM. Estimates of worldwide burden of cancer in 2008: GLOBOCAN 2008. Int J