Hepatitis B and C virus infection in Romanian non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma patients

Abstract

Summary. We determined the hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies (anti-HCV) and the hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) in a cohort of 68 consecutive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients diagnosed and treated in our institution between December 1997 and March 1999. 27 cases were diagnosed as low-grade, 33 as intermediate-grade, and eight as high-grade NHL. In 35 cases (51´4%) we found evidence of either HCV or HBV infection. Anti-HCV antibodies were found in 20 patients (29´5%) and HBsAg was found in 21 patients (30´8%). In six patients both anti-HCV and HBsAg were present. Anti-HCV were present in 12/27 low-grade NHL cases (44´4%) and in 8/41 intermediate/high-grade (aggressive) NHL cases (19´5%, P < 0´03). HBsAg was found in 10/27 low-grade NHL cases (37%) and in 11/41 aggressive NHL cases (26´8%). Evidence of liver disease, as re¯ected by elevated aminotransferases or typical alterations at liver biopsy, was present in eight patients. Cryoglobulins were present in six patients, all anti-HCV positive and with low-grade NHL. The prevalence of both HCV antibodies and HBsAg was signi®cantly higher (P < 0´0001) in our NHL cases than in a sample of the general Romanian population, where the prevalence of anti-HCV was 4´9% and that of HBsAg was 6´3%. It is dif®cult to say whether either HCV or HBV had actually been involved in lymphomagenesis or if a-interferon treatment would be effective in this subset of patients.

Hepatitis B Virus Infection and B‐Cell Non‐Hodgkin's Lymphoma in a Hepatitis B Endemic Area: A Case‐control Study

“…13,14) However, most of these studies were conducted without controls and the HBsAg-positive rate was compared to that of the general population. Three likely explanations have been proposed for the association between HBV infection and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.…”

“…[6][7][8] Several studies have reported a high prevalence of HBV infection in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, ranging from 3% to 30%. [9][10][11][12][13][14] However, most of these studies were performed as case series studies without control groups.…”

Prevalence and clinical impact of autoimmune diseases and chronic infections in malignant lymphomas at diagnosis

“…On the other hand, conflicting results have been obtained regarding the frequency of such infections among lymphoma patients from other countries. Some studies found no association of HCV or HBV infections with NHL [22][23][24], other studies found a higher prevalence of hepatitis C and B in NHL patients compared to controls [25][26][27]. This has, in part, been ascribed to different rates of hepatitis infections in the general population of the respective countries.…”

Hepatitis C virus infection among patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in northern India

“…Whereas a few studies have found a significantly increased prevalence of HBV surface antigen positivity in NHL patients [15,29,30], the relationship has been proposed to be coincidental rather than causal. This study also did not show any relationship between HBsAg positivity and NHL.…”