High prevalence of hepatitis G virus infection in Hodgkin's disease and B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders: absence of correlation with hepatitis C virus infection

Hematology Division, Federico II University, Naples, Italy. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: During the last decade an epidemiological association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) and B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders (B-LPD) has been reported; the same association has not been observed for Hodgkin's disease (HD). Hepatitis G virus (HGV) shares genetic and biological features with HCV, thus it might also be involved in lymphomagenesis. DESIGN AND METHODS: The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of HCV and HGV infection in patients at diagnosis of B-LPD or HD. RESULTS: We tested 227 consecutive untransfused patients (127 with B-LPD and 100 with HD) and 110 healthy controls. The prevalence of HCV infection was significantly higher in B-LPD patients than in controls (17.3% vs. 1.8%, p