High incidence of hepatitis B virus infection in B-cell subtype non-Hodgkin lymphoma compared with other cancers

BACKGROUND. The authors investigated the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection by using serologic markers in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) compared with other types of cancers in Chinese patients. METHODS. in this case-control study, HBV and other hepatitis markers were compared between a study group and a control group. The study group included 587 patients with NHL (age range, 16-86 years), and the control group included 1237 patients (age range, 16-89 years) who were diagnosed with other cancers except liver cancer. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to test serum samples from both groups for HBV markers and other hepatitis markers. RESULTS. Logistic regression analysis showed that there was a higher prevalence of HBV infection in patients with the B-cell subtype of NHL (30.2%) than in patients with other cancers (14.8%; odds ratio [OR], 2.6; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 2.0-3.4); however, in patients with the T-cell subtype of NHL, the HBV infection rate (19.8%) was similar to that among patients with other cancers (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.8-1.8). A significant difference in HBV prevalence was found between B-cell and T-cell NHL (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.4-3.6). In the patients with B-cell NHL, those who were infected with HBV had a significantly earlier disease onset (9.5 years) than those who were not infected with HBV. CONCLUSIONS. The current results demonstrated that patients with B-cell NHL, but not patients with T-cell NHL, had a higher prevalence of HBV infection. HBV infection was associated with a significantly earlier disease onset (P < .001), a finding that suggested the possibility that HBV may play an etiologic role in the induction of B-cell NHL.