title: Clinical characteristics and outcome for hepatitis C virus-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
abstract: Several previous studies have addressed the association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), but there are few studies on HCV-related diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBL). We conducted this retrospective study to investigate the distinctive clinical characteristics and outcome for HCV-positive DLBL. We compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of 32 HCV-positive DLBL cases from nine Korean institutions with those of 371 HCV-negative DLBL cases. A higher percentage of HCV-positive DLBL cases were associated with old age (> or = 60) than HCV-negative DLBL cases at diagnosis (59.4% vs. 36.1%, respectively, P = 0.009) and HCV-positive cases were less likely than HCV-negative cases to have extranodal involvement (53.1% vs. 71.1%, respectively, P = 0.044). The nodal presentation was the only independent factor favorably influencing the event free survival (EFS) in HCV-positive DLBL (HR = 0.11, 95% CI; 0.01-0.95, P = 0.012). In comparison to patients with HCV-negative DLBL, HCV-positive DLBL patients had a superior complete response rate (P = 0.023) and EFS (P = 0.02). In Korean patients, HCV-positive DLBL is more common with old age and has less extranodal involvement than does HCV-negative DLBL. The superior survival outcome for HCV-positive DLBL should be verified by further investigation, especially with respect to its correlation with transformed low-grade NHL.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Byeong-Bae
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jin Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young-Yuel
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hye Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Baek Yeol
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Ryoo
authors.forename: Jung Hun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Ho Young
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Bong-Seog
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Hyuk Chan
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Jong Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Won
authors.forename: Kihyun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Keunchil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Cheolwon
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.forename: Won Seog
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome