Abstract 5046: Gallbladder disease and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma: US case-control study

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary cancer of the liver with a five-year survival rate of less than 5 percent. Gallbladder disease (GBD) is defined as the presence of cholelithiasis or cholecystitis. Both cholelithiasis and cholecystitis have been reported as risk factors in the development of gastrointestinal cancers, such as biliary tract and pancreatic cancers. Moreover, patients with GBD tend to develop chronic liver diseases, which may progress to cirrhosis. However, the role of GBD in the development of non-cirrhotic related HCC has not been elucidated. We aimed to investigate the role of GBD and the risk of HCC development in the absence of cirrhosis. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Cases were defined as pathologically confirmed HCC. Controls were healthy individuals without prior history of cancer, who were spouses of other cancer patients seen at MD Anderson. All subjects were USA residents. Participants were personally interviewed for prior history of GBD and for several HCC risk factors (environmental, behavioral, chronic medical conditions, and family history of cancer). Blood samples of all participants were tested for markers of hepatitis B and C viruses. We reviewed the pathology and radiology records of HCC patients to assess presence and absence of cirrhosis. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the association between GBD and HCC in the absence of cirrhosis and with adjustment for potential confounders. RESULTS: Between 2000 and 2017, a total of 1333 cases and 1104 controls were enrolled in the study. After review, 347 HCC case patients showed no evidence of cirrhosis and were eligible for this analysis. The prevalence of GBD based on the participants’ recall during personal interview was 22.7% in the cases. Upon further assessment by review of medical records, the prevalence of GBD was 40.3% in the cases. Individuals with GBD were two times more likely to develop HCC than individuals with no history of GBD (AOR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.4 – 2.8). The estimated AOR did not meaningfully change when we rely on the prevalence of GBD recalled by cases (22.7%) versus prevalence of GBD obtained from medical records (40.3%). The association between GBD and HCC continue to be significant in the absence of viral hepatitis, through a restricted analysis among non-viral non-cirrhotic population after controlling for age, sex race, alcohol use, cigarette smoking, diabetes mellitus, and family history of cancer. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that GBD is a significant risk factor for HCC development in absence of cirrhosis. Future research aiming at investigating the underlying mechanism of GBD-induced HCC in absence of cirrhosis should be warranted. In addition, patients with GBD should be screened for evidence of cirrhosis. Citation Format: Kenda Al-Assi, Rikita Hatia, Vijayashri Rallapalli, Yehia I. Abugabal, Ahmed Abdelhakeem, Reham Abdel-Wahab, Kanwal Raghav, Prasun K. Jalal, Ahmed Kaseb, Asif Rashid, Donghui Li, Manal Hassan. Gallbladder disease and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma: US case-control study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5046.