Infection with hepatitis B and C viruses and risk of lymphoid malignancies in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

Silvia Franceschi (1) , Mauro Lise , Christian Trépo (2) , Pascale Berthillon (2) , Shu-Chun Chuang , Alexandra Nieters (3, 4) , Ruth C Travis , Roel Vermeulen (5) , Kim Overvad (6) , Anne Tjønneland (7) , Anja Olsen (8) , Manuela M Bergmann (9) , Heiner Boeing (7) , Rudolf Kaaks (10) , Nikolaus Becker (11) , Antonia Trichopoulou (7, 12) , Pagona Lagiou (13) , Christina Bamia (14) , Domenico Palli (15) , Sabina Sieri (16) , Salvatore Panico (17) , Rosario Tumino (18) , Carlotta Sacerdote (19) , Bas Bueno-De-Mesquita (20, 21) , Petra H M Peeters (22, 23) , Laudina Rodríguez (24) , Leila Luján Barroso , Miren Dorronsoro (25) , María-José Sánchez (26, 27) , Carmen Navarro (28, 29) , Aurelio Barricarte (7, 30) , Sara Regnér , Signe Borgquist (31) , Beatrice Melin (32) , Göran Hallmans (33) , Kay-Tee Khaw (34) , Nick Wareham (35) , Sabina Rinaldi (36) , Pierre Hainaut (37) , Elio Riboli (38) , Paolo Vineis (39, 40)

1 CIRC - IARC - Centre International de Recherche contre le Cancer - International Agency for Research on Cancer
2 UNICANCER/CRCL - Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon
3 Molecular Epidemiology
4 Institute for Medical Biostatistics and Medical Informatics
5 Division of Environmental Epidemiology
6 Section of Epidemiology
7 Danish Cancer Society Research Center
8 Cancer Epidemiology Institute
9 Epidemiology
10 Division of Cancer Epidemiology
11 Division of Cancer Epidemiology
12 Hellenic Health Foundation
13 WHO Collaborating Center for Food and Nutrition Policies
14 WHO Collaborating Center for Food and Nutrition Policies, Department of Hygiene
15 Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology Unit
16 Nutritional Epidemiology Unit
17 Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine
18 Cancer Registry
19 CPO Piemonte - Centro di Riferimento per l'Epidemiologia e la Prevenzione Oncologica in Piemonte = Center for Cancer Prevention-Piemonte
20 RIVM - National Institute for Public Health and the Environment [Bilthoven]
21 Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
22 Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care
23 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care
24 Public Health and Participation Directorate
25 Epidemiology and Health Information
26 CIBERESP - Consorcio de Investigación Biomédica en Red especializado en Epidemiología y Salud Pública
27 Granada Cancer Registry
28 CIBERESP
29 Epidemiology Department
30 Navarre Public Health Institute
31 Department of Oncology
32 Department of Radiation Sciences and Oncology
33 Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine
34 Department of Public Health and Primary Care
35 Medical Research Council
36 IACR - International Agency for Cancer Research
37 Sect Mech Carcinogenesis
38 School of Public Health
39 Centre for Environment and Health
40 HuGeF - Human Genetics Foundation

BACKGROUND: Case-control studies suggested a moderate, but consistent, association of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with lymphoid tissue malignancies, especially non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). More limited data suggested that hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection might also be associated with NHL. However, prospective studies on the topic are few. METHODS: A nested case-control study was conducted in eight countries participating in the EPIC prospective study. Seven hundred thirty-nine incident cases of NHL, 238 multiple myeloma (MM), and 46 Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) were matched with 2,028 controls. Seropositivity to anti-HCV, anti-HBc, and HBsAg was evaluated and conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for NHL, MM, or HL, and their combination. RESULTS: Anti-HCV seropositivity among controls in different countries ranged from 0% to 5.3%; HBsAg from 0% to 2.7%; and anti-HBc from 1.9% to 45.9%. Similar nonsignificant associations were found with seropositivity to HBsAg for NHL (OR = 1.78; 95% CI: 0.78-4.04), MM (OR = 4.00; 95% CI: 1.00-16.0), and HL (OR = 2.00; 95% CI: 0.13-32.0). The association between HBsAg and the combination of NHL, MM, and HL (OR = 2.21; 95% CI: 1.12-4.33) was similar for cancer diagnosed less than 3 and 3 or more years after blood collection. No significant association was found between anti-HCV and NHL, MM, or HL risk, but the corresponding CIs were very broad. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic HBV infection may increase the risk of lymphoid malignancies among healthy European volunteers. IMPACT: Treatment directed at control of HBV infection should be evaluated in HBsAg-seropositive patients with lymphoid tissue malignancies.

Domaines: Cancer

Silvia Franceschi, Mauro Lise, Christian Trépo, Pascale Berthillon, Shu-Chun Chuang, et al.. Infection with hepatitis B and C viruses and risk of lymphoid malignancies in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 2011, 20 (1), pp.208-14. ⟨10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-10-0889⟩. ⟨hal-00811971⟩