title: High prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in HIV-negative Castleman's disease.
abstract: Castleman's disease (CD) is a rare non-neoplastic lymphoproliferative disorder with ambiguous etiology. This study aimed to evaluate the potential association between hepatitis B virus (HBV) and CD and to characterize the HBV-positive CD patients in China, an endemic area for HBV infection. We compared the prevalence of HBV infection in 35 consecutive CD patients initially diagnosed in our hospitals over a 10-year period with an age- and sex-matched healthy control, a national population-based control, and a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) control. We found that the prevalence of HBV infection in CD was 17.1% (6/35), which was as high as the NHL control (19.9%, P = 0.693), but significantly higher than the age- and sex-matched healthy control (6.9%, P = 0.033) and the national population-based control (7.2%, P = 0.037). Next, we compared the clinicopathological characteristics between HBV-positive and HBV-negative CD patients. We found that HBV-positive CD patients had a significantly higher NHL malignant transformation rate (33.3% vs. 0%, P = 0.025), higher splenomegaly rate (83.3% vs. 27.6%, P = 0.019), and much poorer prognosis (estimated mean overall survival time (50.83 vs. 64.34 months, P = 0.016). In conclusion, our findings suggest an association between HBV infection and development of CD. CD patients with HBV infection have their own distinguished features.
authors.affiliation: The Second Affiliated Hospital, Binjiang Branch, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China.
authors.forename: Xiang-Gui
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Fei-Fei
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yi-Miao
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Xiao-Ying
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005871:Castleman Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult