Hepatitis C Virus Cryoglobulinemia and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

CONTEXT On the strength of epidemiological data,biological studies, and clinical findings, hepatitis C virus appears to be involved in the pathogenesis of a proportion of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cryoglobulinemia. OBJECTIVES The aim of this paper is to review the published literature focused on the current knowledge concerning hepatitis C virus and its potential role in the production of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cryoglobulinemia in susceptible individuals. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION In this review, databases such as pubMed, embase, ISI, and Iranian databases including Iranmedex, and SID were searched. RESULTS The results of this review indicate that HCV infection may be a likely cause of various B cell dysregulation disorders such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cryoglobulinemia. CONCLUSION Based on current findings, it has been hypothesized that NHL and cryoglobulinemia in HCV infection may have an immune-mediated pathogenesis. In HCV infected patients, we showed an elevated risk of these two diseases. These finding suggested a possible role for chronic hepatitis C in the pathogenesis of NHL and cryoglobulinemia.