ABSTRACT
Background: The number of viruses associated with lymphoma has increased in the last 20 years. Several studies from different parts of the world have indicated a potential association between a variety of lymphoproliferative disorders and viruses, as hepatitis C virus [HCV] hepatitis B virus [HBV] and Epstein-Barr Virus [EBV]
Aim of the work: The aim of this work was to study the role of oncogenic viruses in patients with malignant Non Hodgkin's lymphoma [NHL], also, to study the correlation of different subtypes of B cell-NHL and the viruses detected
Patients and methods: Twenty cases of B cell-NHL were investigated for serum HCVAbIgG, HBsAg by Elisa technique. Also HCV-RNA sequences as well as HBV-DNA and EBV-DNA sequences were detected in the tumor tissues by using RT-PCR. HCV is also examined by immunohistochemical method. In addition 10 cases of non neoplastic lymphadenopathy were taken as a control
Results: Out of the 20 B cell-NHL patients 6 [30%] cases showed positive HCV AbIgG, and 8 [40%] cases showed positive HBSAg in their sera. In four cases out of the 6 HCV positive patients, HCV-RNA sequences were detected by PCR, and in 7 patients out of the 8 HBV positive patients, HBV-DNA sequences were present. 5 [25%] out of the 20 cases were negative for both HBV-DNA and HCV-RNA sequences. EBV was positive in all B cell-NHL cases by EBNA gene while it was detected in 9 [45%] out of the 20 NHL cases by LYDMA gene. A coinfection was detected between HCV and EBV in 2 cases out of the 6 HCV positive cases, and between HBV and EBV in 3 out of the 7 HBV positive cases. Two cases were positive for EBV only, and negative for both HCV and HBV sequences. All control cases were positive for polyclonal EBV and negative for HCV-RNA and HBV-DNA sequences, 3 [15%] cases out of the 20 cases of B cell-NHL showed positive staining in the tissues for HCV-Abs by immunohistochemical method. All positive cases of the studied viruses showed no predilection for a particular subtypes of B-cell NHL
Conclusion: A significant association was present between HBV, EBV and B cell-NHL [P= 0.05 and 0.043 respectively] and the association between HCV and B cell-NHL is not significant. This raised the possibility that these viruses may play an etiologic role in the induction of B cell-NHL disease. No relation was found between the different histological subtypes of NHL and the viruses detected