The Prevalence of Hepatitis C in Solid Tumors other than HCC, Is There an Association?

Abstract

Purpose: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may cause cirrhosis and HCC with prevalence of approximately 1.8 % in US. Other studies have suggested an association with HCV infection and other malignancies such as thyroid, NHL and hypernephroma (RCC). Our AIM was to determine the prevalence of HCV among patients presenting with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) compared to other malignancies to determine prevalence rates of HCV in patients those with proven solid tumors. Methods: This was a retrospective electronic database study of patients at 2 large centers (Indiana University/Indiana Health Partners and Sinai Hospital, Baltimore) between 1980 and 6/2009 for all patients with presenting with RCC, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer and HCC who demonstrated serologic evidence HCV infection or carried a documented diagnosis of HCV infection at presentation with malignancy. Chi square test was used to test the difference between RCC group and other control groups. Results: In 2439 patients with hypernephroma, 270/2439 (11.07%) were tested or had history of HCV infection. 1596 patients with pancreatic cancer were studied; 104/1596 (6.25%) were tested for HCV. In patients with HCC; HCV was tested in 584/791 (73.83%). HCV was positive in 49/270 (18.15%) or 2% of entire RCC cohort compared to 9/104 (8.65%) or 0.56% of the entire pancreatic cancer cohort, 10/54 (18.52%) or 1.64% of the entire colon cancer cohort and 331/584 (56.68%) or 41.85% of the entire HCC cohort. Conclusion: As expected, the prevalence of HCV infection was the highest in HCC group significantly higher than all other cohorts. The prevalence of HCV in RCC and colon cancer was similar and significantly higher than the pancreatic cancer cohort. Further prospective studies with HCV screening in those presenting with malignancies are warranted to determine if HCV infection is associated with other solid tumors.