{
  "abstract": "Background: The immunoregulatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-35 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we explored the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL-35 gene and the occurrence of HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV).\n\nMethods: We selected 39 patients with chronic hepatitis B (HBV) and 52 patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as the case groups, along with 42 healthy individuals as the control group. We genotyped five IL-35-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and analyzed their association with HCC risk. In addition, serum IL-35 levels, lymphocyte counts, and regulatory T cell (Treg) frequencies were measured in peripheral blood across all groups.\n\nResults: The frequency of the rs583911 AA genotype tended to increase from healthy controls (4.8%) to patients with chronic HBV (10.3%) to patients with HCC (21.2%) (P for trend = 0.03). When patients with HCC were compared to non-HCC controls (healthy controls + chronic HBV carriers), the rs583911 AA genotype was associated with HCC risk (OR = 3.35; 95% CI: 1.17–9.61, P = 0.020). After adjusting for age, sex, cirrhosis status, and antiviral therapy, the association was no longer statistically significant (adjusted P = 0.085). Serum IL-35 levels were significantly elevated in both the HBV and the HCC groups compared with those in the control group (P < 0.001), with no significant difference between the HBV and the HCC groups (P = 0.434). Within the HCC subgroup, patients with the AA genotype tended to have higher IL-35 levels (P = 0.047). Flow cytometry analysis of a subset of samples (6 controls, 6 patients with HBV, and 28 patients with HCC) revealed that the number of Treg cells was greater in patients with HCC than in those with HBV (P = 0.038).\n\nConclusion: Our findings suggest a potential association between the rs583911 AA genotype and HBV-related HCC risk. However, these exploratory findings did not remain statistically significant after rigorous adjustment for multiple comparisons and potential confounders; therefore, validation in larger, independent cohorts is needed.\n\nSupplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-026-16609-8.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Clinical Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Digestive Cancer, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, 300060 China",
    "Department of Clinical Laboratory, Tianjin Dongli Hospital, Tianjin, 300300 China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Hui Dong"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Duo Zuo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yuxuan Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Zhengkun Zhu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Xia Sun"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Wei Meng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Xuan Liu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Wantong Wu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Li Ren"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fnvx9tg45pkzm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1186/s12885-026-16609-8",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13737490/",
  "id": "fnvx9tg45pkzm",
  "issns": [
    "1471-2407"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-026-16609-8",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Research"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2713|Hepatitis B Virus Studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7202037429",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13737490",
  "pmid": "42983300",
  "published": "2026-08-10",
  "publisher": "BMC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fnvx9tg45pkzm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-09T12:22:39Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13737490",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-026-16609-8"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2713|Hepatitis B Virus Studies",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Association between the IL-35 rs583911 polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk in patients infected with chronic hepatitis B virus",
  "title_text": "Association between the IL-35 rs583911 polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk in patients infected with chronic hepatitis B virus",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T12:22:39Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fnvx9tg45pkzm",
  "venue": "BMC Cancer",
  "versions": []
}