High incidence of hepatitis B virus infection in B‐cell subtype non‐Hodgkin lymphoma compared with other cancers

Abstract

BACKGROUND. The authors investigated the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection by using serologic markers in non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) compared with other types of cancers in Chinese patients. METHODS. In this case‐control study, HBV and other hepatitis markers were compared between a study group and a control group. The study group included 587 patients with NHL (age range, 16–86 years), and the control group included 1237 patients (age range, 16–89 years) who were diagnosed with other cancers except liver cancer. An enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay was used to test serum samples from both groups for HBV markers and other hepatitis markers. RESULTS. Logistic regression analysis showed that there was a higher prevalence of HBV infection in patients with the B‐cell subtype of NHL (30.2%) than in patients with other cancers (14.8%; odds ratio [OR], 2.6; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 2.0–3.4); however, in patients with the T‐cell subtype of NHL, the HBV infection rate (19.8%) was similar to that among patients with other cancers (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.8–1.8). A significant difference in HBV prevalence was found between B‐cell and T‐cell NHL (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.4–3.6). In the patients with B‐cell NHL, those who were infected with HBV had a significantly earlier disease onset (9.5 years) than those who were not infected with HBV. CONCLUSIONS. The current results demonstrated that patients with B‐cell NHL, but not patients with T‐cell NHL, had a higher prevalence of HBV infection. HBV infection was associated with a significantly earlier disease onset (P < .001), a finding that suggested the possibility that HBV may play an etiologic role in the induction of B‐cell NHL. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.