Antiviral therapy after complete response to chemotherapy could be efficacious in HCV-positive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma☆
Background/Aims
Prevalence of HCV infection in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is high. The impact of antiviral therapy on the natural history of this subgroup of lymphomas after a successful chemotherapy regimen is still an argument of debate.
Methods
We retrospectively examined 343 chemotherapy-treated patients referred to our centre for five consecutive years. Clinical and histological characteristics, disease free-survival (DFS) and overall-survival (OS) were compared in HCV-positive (69/343) and HCV-negative (274/343) patients. Twenty-five HCV-positive patients received antiviral treatment following chemotherapy discontinuation. Uni- and multivariate analyses were performed.
Results
20% of lymphomas were HCV-positive. Indolent histology was prevalent in the HCV-positive group (p
<0.05); no significant differences in OS or DFS were found between the two groups; in HCV-positive subjects, antiviral therapy, was associated with a longer DFS (p<0.05); none of the HCV-positive subjects who achieved a virological response experienced any lymphoma relapse; 29% of non responders did; at multivariate analysis, the independent factors related to a better clinical outcome were: indolent histology at the onset of lymphoma and antiviral therapy.
Conclusions
Antiviral treatment in HCV-positive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma may be an important strategy to reinforce the results of a successful chemotherapy regimen; further studies are needed to validate this combined approach.
Abbreviations: NHL, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, DFS, disease free-survival, OS, overall-survival, SVR, sustained virological response
Keywords: Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Hepatitis C antiviral therapy
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☆ The authors who have taken part in the research of this paper declared that they do not have a relationship with the manufacturers of the drugs involved either in the past or present and they did not receive funding from the manufacturers to carry out their research.
PII: S0168-8278(08)00435-2
doi:10.1016/j.jhep.2008.06.025
© 2008 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Refers to corrigendum:
- Corrigendum to “Antiviral therapy after complete response to chemotherapy could be efficacious in HCV-positive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma” [J Hepatol 49 (2008) 557–563]
