Hepatitis-C Infection Incidence Among the non-Hodgkin's B-cell Lymphoma Patients in the Northeast of Iran

Background: Various infectious agents like Ebstein Barr Virus (EBV), HTLV-1 and Helicobacter pylori have known as etiologic factors in different sub-types of lymphoma. Although Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has not only been important for its hepatotropism and hepatitis development, but also in recent years its association with some forms of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), especially B cell NHL, has reported. In some countries, the rate of B cell NHL development in HCV infected patients was four times more than general population, and then association between HCV infection and B-NHL has proposed in many studies. Methods: To assess this relationship in our geographic region, in a descriptive study; we have evaluated patients with B-NHL in an oncology center in northeast of Iran for HCV infection. Results: Out of 128 B-NHL patients, HCV Antibody test (with third generation ELISA method) was positive in only one patient, which confirmed with Nested PCR technique. Then the frequency of HCV infection in our patients was 0.7%. Conclusion: Respecting to the incidence of HCV infection in general population in Iran, which is between 0.5-1%, we couldn't show higher prevalence of HCV infection in NHL patients than general population, and hence couldn't confirm relation between HCV infection and B-NHL in our region.