Hepatitis-C infection incidence among the non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma patients in the Northeast of Iran

ABSTRACT

Various infectious agents like Ebstein Barr Virus [EBV], HTLV-1 and Helicobacter pylori have known as etiologic factors in different sub-types of lymphoma. Although Hepatitis C virus [HCV] has not only been important for its hepatotropism and hepatitis development, but also in recent years its association with some forms of non- Hodgkin's lymphoma [NHL], especially B cell NHL, has reported. In some countries, the rate of B cell NHL development in HCV infected patients was four times more than general population, and then association between HCV infection and B-NHL has proposed in many studies. To assess this relationship in our geographic region, in a descriptive study; we have evaluated patients with B-NHL in an oncology center in northeast of Iran for HCV infection. Out of 128 B-NHL patients, HCV Antibody test [with third generation ELISA method] was positive in only one patient, which confirmed with Nested PCR technique. Then the frequency of HCV infection in our patients was 0.7%. Respecting to the incidence of HCV infection in general population in Iran, which is between 0.5-1%, we couldn't show higher prevalence of HCV infection in NHL patients than general population, and hence couldn't confirm relation between HCV infection and B-NHL in our region