Relation between Hepatitis C Virus and Helicobacter Pylori in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Patients

Abstract

Background : It has been recently hypothesized that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) might be involved in the pathogenesis of malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) . Objective : is to assess if there is a relationship between Helicobacter pylori and Hepatitis C virus infection and malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Methodology: The study was performed on 100 adult NHL patients, newly diagnosed cases, at clinical pathology department; Faculty of medicine, Al-Azhar university from December 2015 to July 2017. Fifty apparently healthy relative individuals were studied as the control. We searched for H. pylori stool antigen using an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) procedure. HCV was investigated by EIA to detect its antibodies, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the presence of its RNA and viral sequencing for the determination of the viral vireamia. Results: H. pylori stool antigen detected by the ELISA technique was found in 54/100 of the cases (54.0%) and (28.0%) of the controls with a p value <0.001. Correlation between H. pylori and different clinical and pathological data revealed that; there was a statistical significant correlation between patients complaining of fatigue, fever and the positivity of H. pylori (p-value <0.001). HCV antibodies detected by the ELISA technique were found in 35/100 patients and in 10/50 of controls with a p-value <0.001. Hepatitis C Virus antibodies and Helicobacter pylori stool Antigen were equally distributed among clinical and pathological parameters in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma cases. There was an overlap between both infections in eleven (11) of the 100 patients reactive for HCV antibodies were also positive for H. pylori stool antigen. Conclusion : H.pylori and HCV infection may have a role in the pathogenesis of non- Hodgkin lymphoma