Primary hepatosplenic lymphoma: association with hepatitis C virus infection [letter]

Viruses and cancers: possible role of hepatitis C virus

“…As HCV infection is characterized by rather frequent chronicization and latent infection of lymphocytes it could be more diffusely involved in the lymphomagenesis than other hepatotropic viruses. Consistently, the association between HCV and NHL, largely demonstrated in Italian patients, has been supported by recent studies from USA and Japan [86][87][88] showing a significantly higher prevalence of HCV infection in B-cell NHL than other haematological malignancies (Hodgkin's lymphoma, Tcell lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, multiple myeloma). A very recent epidemiological study by Tanaka et al [89] on a large series of 592 Japanese NHL cases demonstrated an increased risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma in these patients; interestingly, HCV seropositivity was detected in the majority (88%) of individuals with hepatocellular carcinoma following NHL (Fig.…”

“…Owing to HCV hepatotropism we should observe a liver involvement in the majority of HCV-positive NHL patients. In fact, chronic hepatitis and/or cirrhosis is frequently (80%) found in patients with NHL complicating mixed cryoglobulinaemia [3,64,66]; whereas, in 'idiopathic' HCV-positive NHL the prevalence of liver involvement ranged from 16% to 50% of cases [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72]86,87]. The variable prevalence of hepatitis in HCVpositive NHL patients is difficult to explain; first of all, we can suppose that, at least in part, its prevalence is underestimated owing to both the insidious, often subclinical course of HCV-related hepatitis and the lack of thorough histological evaluation in the published patients' series.…”

Prevalence of hepatitis B or C virus infections in patients with non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] We demonstrated that the prevalence of HCV and HBV infection in NHL patients was 8.1% (20 cases among 348 patients) and 6.9% (17 cases), respectively. With respect to NHL patients and HCV infection, Ferri et al 10 reported that the prevalence of HCV infection in Italian patients with B-cell NHL was 30%; Mazzaro et al 11 (also in Italy) reported 28%; Silvestri et al 12 (again in Italy) reported 9%, Izumi et al 13 (in Japan) reported 22.2% and, finally, Yoshikawa et al, 15 also in Japan, reported 9%. In contrast, Singer et al 21 and McColl et al 22 reported that there were no HCV-positive cases in UK patients.…”

“…The pathologic findings in the present study characterized 75% of the cases with HCV infection as B-cell type, and 80% were of an intermediate grade according to the Working Formulation classification 26 in NHL patients. In contrast, Mazzaro C et al 11 reported a high frequency of low grade NHL, whereas Izumi et al 13 and Yoshikawa et al 15 observed a high frequency of intermediate grade, especially diffuse, large cell-type NHL. Diffuse, large cell B-NHL comprised 45% of cases in our HCV-infected patients.…”

“…[5][6][7][8][9] Moreover, it has been suggested that these viruses may have some involvement with the development of lymphatic disorders, such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). 1,2,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] However, with respect to HCV infection and development of NHL, this putative association could be influenced by the background of HCV prevalence in the community, which differs markedly in different areas (9-30% in Italy, 10-12 9-22% in Japan, 13,15 and 0% in UK 21,22 ). Furthermore, as far as we are aware, there has been no detailed evaluation of HBV-infected NHL thus far.…”