Expression of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine in chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Reactive oxygen species may be involved in the progression of chronic liver disease and the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To clarify whether clinicopathological findings in liver diseases are related to oxidative DNA damage, hepatic expression of the 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) was examined in 75 liver disease patients, which included 32 chronic hepatitis (CH), 13 liver cirrhosis (LC) and 30 HCC patients. The CH patients had higher 8-OHdG-positive hepatocytes than LC (P < 0.