Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in cases of B-cell lymphoma in Japan.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in B-cell lymphoma in Japan. HCV infection and type II (monoclonal IgM) cryoglobulinaemia (CG) may be involved in the pathogenesis of low-grade B-cell lymphoma (ML) in southern Europe.


RESULTS
Forty-five (11.3%) of 400 B-cell ML cases were HCV antibody (Ab) positive, which was significantly (P < 0.01) higher than the blood donors (2.5%). Among them, 28 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cases were included. In the primary sites, 10 (47.6%) of 21 splenic DLBCL and seven (23.3%) of 30 gastric DLBCL were HCV Ab positive, which were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the myeloma cases (4.9%). HCV infection was rarely (4.2%) detected in 24 lymphoplasmacytic and salivary gland low-grade B-cell ML cases. Type II CG was detected in one myeloma case (3.5%) of 29 HCV+ B-cell ML. By real-time polymerase chain reaction, HCV RNA was detected in fresh tumour tissues of all 11 B-cell ML cases examined. Lymphoma cells were positive for the envelope HCV non-structural (NS)3 and envelope (E2) proteins in six of eight examined B-cell ML cases.


CONCLUSIONS
The rare incidence of type II CG is characteristic of Japanese HCV+ ML patients and may influence the low incidence of low-grade B-cell ML. HCV infection may play a role in lymphomagenesis of splenic and gastric DLBCL.
Takeshita
M
M
Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan. m-take@fukuoka-u.ac.jp
Sakai
H
H
Okamura
S
S
Higaki
K
K
Oshiro
Y
Y
Uike
N
N
Yamamoto
I
I
Shimamatsu
K
K
Muranaka
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D003449:Cryoglobulinemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016393:Lymphoma, B-Cell / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; D043583:Nucleoside-Triphosphatase; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases; D000085242:Viral Proteases
D012367:RNA, Viral; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; C084422:NS3 protein, hepatitis C virus; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; D043583:Nucleoside-Triphosphatase; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases; D000085242:Viral Proteases; C091015:glycoprotein E2, Hepatitis C virus