Clinical outcome in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with hepatitis C virus infection in the rituximab era: a single center experience.

Clinical outcome of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the rituximab era remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to compare the clinical outcome, treatment response and hepatotoxicity in DLBCL patients who received rituximab containing immunochemotherapy that had HCV infection and those that did not have HCV infection between January 2004 and October 2011. Of the 272 consecutive histopathologically diagnosed DLBCL patients in our department, a total of 248 were retrospectively analyzed in the present study. There were 28 DLBCL patients with HCV infection (the HCV group) and 220 DLBCL patients without HCV infection (the control group). We compared overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), treatment response and hepatotoxicity according to HCV infection. In terms of OS (P=0.525) and PFS (P=0.759), there were no significant differences between the HCV group and the control group. Objective response rates were 92.9% (26/28) in the HCV group and 95.9% (211/220) in the control group (P=0.619). In the HCV group, seven patients (25.0%) developed hepatotoxicity during immunochemotherapy. In the control group, 35 patients (15.9%) developed hepatotoxicity during chemotherapy. No patient required discontinuation of immunochemotherapy owing to hepatotoxicity in either group. In terms of hepatotoxicity, there was no significant difference between these two groups (P=0.281). In conclusion, our study results suggested that HCV infection might not influence the clinical course in DLBCL patients who receive rituximab-containing immunochemotherapy.