The HBV DNA concentration in the HBV-HCC tissue was quantified as copies per microgram of genomic DNA with ABI 7300 TaqMan platform (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA) by real-time PCR. HBV genotypes were determined by multiplex-PCR as described previously.18 (link) The DNA sequences flanking the small S region were amplified with the primer pairs listed in Table 1 according to the NCBI database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/5536). Cyclic sequencing was performed with a BigDye Terminator v3.1 Cycle Sequencing Kit (Life Technologies) by ABI PRISM 3100 Genetic Analyzer (Life Technologies). Mutations were confirmed by repeating the analysis on both the strands.