High prevalence of hepatitis G virus infection in Hodgkin's disease and B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders: absence of correlation with hepatitis C virus infection.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

During the last decade an epidemiological association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) and B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders (B-LPD) has been reported; the same association has not been observed for Hodgkin's disease (HD). Hepatitis G virus (HGV) shares genetic and biological features with HCV, thus it might also be involved in lymphomagenesis.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of HCV and HGV infection in patients at diagnosis of B-LPD or HD.

RESULTS

We tested 227 consecutive untransfused patients (127 with B-LPD and 100 with HD) and 110 healthy controls. The prevalence of HCV infection was significantly higher in B-LPD patients than in controls (17.3% vs. 1.8%, p<0.002 ), whereas it was the same in HD patients as in controls. In contrast, the prevalence of HGV was significantly higher in patients, both those with B-LPD (7.8% vs. 0.9%, p<0.03) and those with HD (13% vs. 0.9%, p<0.002), than in controls. Among the various B-LPD tested, HGV infection was more frequent in B-NHL (11.5%).

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS

Our data support the hypothesis that HGV infection may play a role in lymphomagenesis and that this role is different and separate from that of HCV.