Prevalence of Hepatitis C virus Genotype 3a in patients with Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem worldwide. Replication and persistence of HCV genome have been described in the liver tissue as well as B cells lymphocyte. Several investigations have reported that long-term persistence of HCV in B cells may result in Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This study was aimed to determine frequency of HCV RNA in histological tissues obtained from patients suffered from Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 52 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks including 23 (44.3%) Hodgkin and 29 (55.7%) Non-Hodgkin samples were collected and five micrometer sections were prepared. RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized. Two consecutive Nested RT-PCR assays were carried out for detection of HCV 5′ UTR and core gene. RT-PCR products were sequenced and aligned to construct HCV phylogenic tree to evaluate the homology of sequences in comparison to the reference sequences retrieved from Genbank. RESULTS: Overall, 6 Non-Hodgkin (20.6%) and 3 Hodgkin lymphoma (13.04%) samples showed positive PCR results for both 5′ UTR and HCV core RNA via nested PCR (P<0.469). Sequencing results revealed that all detected HCV RNA samples belonged to the genotype 3a. CONCLUSION: Despite low prevalence of HCV infection in Iran, high frequency of HCV RNA genotypes 3a (17.3%) has been found in patients with Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. To improve treatment regimens, screening of HCV RNA in patients suffered from Hodgkin or Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is recommended which can be done through highly sensitive molecular means before and after immunosuppression status.