Link exists between hepatitis C and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Lombardi researchers and colleagues find

WASHINGTON, DC –A Lombardi Cancer Center researcher, working with colleagues at the University of Maryland at Baltimore and at Cairo University in Egypt, has uncovered evidence that hepatitis C may be a cause of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Preliminary data show that patients infected with hepatitis C, an asymptomatic form of viral hepatitis for which there is no effective treatment, are twice as likely to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of lymph node cancer, than are patients who do not have the virus. The risk appears to be higher for men. Initial studies have been done only among Egyptian and European patients, and further studies will be required to determine whether the link exists for other populations, said Christopher Loffredo, PhD, the assistant professor at Lombardi who is leading the research efforts.

“This finding has given us new insight into the role that hepatitis C may play in cancer epidemiology,” Loffredo said. “As better treatments to cure hepatitis C infection and new vaccines against the virus are developed, it will be important to see whether we can prevent the occurrence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as well.”

In addition to examining the relationship between non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and hepatitis C, Loffredo is also studying the association between hepatitis C and liver cancer. “Some people infected with hepatitis C develop cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer—or both—while others who carry the virus never develop any virus-related health problems,” Loffredo said. “Uncovering the factor that keeps some carriers of hepatitis C from developing further complications could lead to improved treatments for this disease, which is currently difficult to treat, especially in developing countries.”

Loffredo will present his research results at the 4th Annual Conference on Hepatitis C Research on March 24 in Cairo. The conference, sponsored by Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population and the U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Hepatitis C Program of the University of Maryland, presents an opportunity for researchers around the world to share their findings on topics such as hepatitis C-related cancer and liver disease as well as mother-infant transmission and blood-borne illness prevention.

In Egypt, hepatitis C affects up to half the population of rural areas, according to recent Ministry of Health and Population surveys. And while only 2 percent of Americans carry the virus, that number has doubled in the last 20 years. “It was only in the late 1980s that hepatitis C was discovered to be a distinct strain, different from hepatitis A and B, which are treatable and preventable by effective vaccines,” Loffredo said. “Blood donations before then were not screened for hepatitis C, and since hepatitis C is asymptomatic, it can live in the body undetected for many years—some people don’t ever know they have it, and others may not know they have it until they are very ill from viral complications and in need of a liver transplant.”

Loffredo’s research, which is being funded by a five-year, $1.6 million National Institutes of Health grant, involves extensive interviews with carriers of the hepatitis C virus as well as a healthy control group—in all, about 2,500 patients.

Georgetown University Medical Center includes a biomedical research enterprise, and the nationally ranked School of Medicine and School of Nursing and Health Studies. Lombardi Cancer Center, an integral component of Georgetown University Medical Center, is one of only 38 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States—and the only one in the Washington, D.C. area—designated by the National Cancer Institute.