Hepatitis C Virus Positivity in Patients With Neoplastic Lymphoproliferative Disorders

Abstract

Several studies have suggested that infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV), that is a hepatotropic and neoplastic virus, has a role in the aetiology of neoplastic lymphoproliferative disorders. The results of some studies, however, failed to establish such an association in the aetiology of these disorders. In this study, hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies were searched in 116 patients with lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) by a third-generation macro ELISA technique. Fifty two of the patients had been suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), 38 from Hodgkin's disease (HD), 15 from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), 6 from Waldenstrψm macroglobulinaemia (WM) and 5 from multiple myeloma (MM). Voluntary blood donors were taken as a control group. The results showed that anti-HCV positivity in all cases was significantly higher than the control group (8.6% vs 0.8%). The rates of anti-HCV positivity were 33.3%, 5.7%, 7.8%, 6.6% and 20% respectively in WM, NHL, HD, CLL and MM cases. In conclusion, the findings of our study demonstrate the probable role of HCV infection in the development of neoplastic LPD in our region.