Chapter 1, Problem 20RP

Hepatitis B and Pancreatic Cancer. The article “Study Links Hepatitis B and Cancer of Pancreas” by D. Grady, appeared in the September 29, 2008 issue of the NewYork Times. It reported that, for the first time, a study showed that people with pancreatic cancer are more likely than those without the disease to have been infected with the hepatitis B virus. The study by M. Hassan et al., titled “Association Between Hepatitis B Virus and Pancreatic Cancer” (Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol. 26, No. 28, pp. 4557–4562) compared 476 people who had pancreatic cancer with 879 healthy control subjects. All were tested to see whether they had ever been infected with the viruses that cause hepatitis B or hepatitis C. The results were that no connection was found to hepatitis C, but the cancer patients were twice as likely as the healthy subjects to have had hepatitis B. The researchers noted, however, that “. . . while the study showed an association, it did not prove cause and effect. More work is needed to determine whether the virus really can cause pancreatic cancer.” Explain the validity of the statement in quotes.