HCV in Lymphoid Neoplasms

In some HBV carrier cases, there have been reports of HBV reactivation and liver damage occurring during rituximab combination chemotherapy. Recently, with regard to the use of rituximab combination chemotherapy to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in people infected with HCV, it has been suggested that there may be a connection between HCV and the severity and frequency of liver damage. Although these studies have mainly been retrospective, it is still debatable as to whether liver damage increases or becomes more severe when using rituximab combination chemotherapy to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with HCV infection. In these HCV infected nonHodgkin’s lymphoma cases, the difference in prognosis compared with patients without HCV infection is also a key issue. On the other hand, it was recently reported that in some cases of B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the use of interferon or a direct-acting antiviral agent against cases of HCV infection either reduced the lymphoma or brought about remission in combination with rituximab, which raises the possibility that treating HCV with antiviral therapy may be effective against lymphoma and may contribute to the vital prognosis. In this review, we present an outline of the current findings relating to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with HCV infection based on these reports. Abstract