title: Preliminary data on the involvement of B, C and D hepatitis viruses in the etiopathogenesis of chronic lymphoproliferative syndromes in Romania.
abstract: THE AIMS OF THE STUDY: Evaluation of the prevalence of HBV, HCV, HDV infection in patients with chronic lymphoproliferative diseases (CL), identification of the most involved viral genotypes, correlation between viremia dynamics and CL evolution, detection of molecular mechanisms implicated in CL pathogenesis, identification of lymphocytic receptors for viral antigens and biologic markers for early diagnosis of CL.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present preliminary results of the first year of our research grant. This is a prospective, analytic, observational study in patients diagnosed with CL and HBV, HCV, HDV chronic infection. We included the following forms of CL: non-Hodgkin malignant lymphoma (NHL), Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We used the following commercial test kits: HCV RNA Real time PCR on a COBAS TaqMan (Roche Diagnostics) analyzer with 28 to 140.000.000 UI/ml detection range for HCV viremia, HBV DNA Real time PCR on a COBAS TaqMan (Roche Diagnostics) analyzer with 6 to 110.000.000 UI/ml detection range for HBV and the Roboscreen-RoboGene AJ kit with 10-10.000.000 replica/ml detection range for HDV.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We have included 20 patients with CL and chronic hepatitis infection so far. Median age of the patients was 61 years. The identified CL forms were: B cell NHL (15 cases), T cell NHL (1 case), CLL (3 cases), Hodgkin lymphoma (1 case), equally distributed in aggressive and indolent forms of CL. HCV infection was diagnosed in 10 patients with CL, HBV infection was found in 10 patients with CL, 3 of them having co-infection HBV + HDV. In 4 patients with HBV infection viremia was over 20.000 IU/ml and the pattern of the CL was the aggressive form of the disease. The feature of the co-infection HBV + HDV was the predominance of indolent forms of CL. Among patients with HCV infection, only 3 cases were detected with viremia over 600.000 IU/ml and CL was represented by aggressive forms of the disease. We also have immunohistochemical data available in 19 cases, which seem to confirm the role of hepatitis viruses in lymphoproliferative disease etiopathogenesis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We ascertained an almost equally represented prevalence of HCV and HBV infection in patients with CL. The levels of HBV, HCV and HDV viremia were low in most of the cases. The most frequent form of CL was B cell NHL. We found an equal distribution between indolent and aggressive forms of NHL associated to hepatitis virus infection.
authors.affiliation: "Professor Dr. Matei Balş" National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Bucharest.
authors.forename: Violeta
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Molagic
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Aramă
authors.forename: A Streinu
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Cercel
authors.forename: Nicoleta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Irimescu
authors.forename: Ana Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Vlădăreanu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olariu
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Aramă
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rafila
authors.forename: Camelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dobrea
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Costoiu
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mârza
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oţelea
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paraschiv
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maxim
authors.forename: Mădălina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Popa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bumbea
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ciufu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Băicuş
authors.forename: Raluca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mihăilescu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D003699:Hepatitis D / Q000150:complications*; D003698:Hepatitis Delta Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008232:Lymphoproliferative Disorders / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012383:Romania; D014766:Viremia / Q000150:complications