Hepatitis B virus infection and risk of lymphoma: results of a serological analysis within the European case-control study Epilymph

N. Becker , P. Schnitzler , P. Boffetta (1, 2) , P. Brennan , L. Foretova , M. Maynadie , A. Nieters , A. Staines , Y. Benavente , P. Cocco , S. De Sanjose

1 IPRI - International Prevention Research Institute
2 The Tisch Cancer Institute

BACKGROUND: We have recently reported from Epilymph, a multicentre case-control study of lymphoma conducted in six European countries, a significant association between NHL and self-reported history of past or present HBV infection based on questionnaire data from face-to-face interviews. METHODS: To corroborate this observation, we used the data and blood specimen from Epilymph to investigate the associations between serological indicators of HBV infection with risk of Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and specific lymphoma entities. For 1,518 cases and 1,496 controls with sufficient amount of serum or plasma, we tested HBs-antigen, anti-HBc and anti-HBs to distinguish between current or past infection and immunity by vaccination. Statistical analysis was carried out with unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS: We found a positive association of a past HBV infection with multiple myeloma (MM, OR = 1.97, 95 % CL = 1.16-3.37). Non-significant associations were found between past HBV infection and B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL, OR = 1.33, 95 % CL = 0.82-2.16) and T-cell NHL (OR = 1.59, 95 % CL = 0.65-3.90), as well as between current HBV infection and NHL (OR = 1.49, 95 % CL = 0.65-3.41), B-NHL (OR = 1.58, 95 % CL = 0.69-3.64) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL, OR = 1.50, 95 % CL = 0.47-4.82). Subjects having self-reported HBV infection were serological positive in 75 % of cases and 80 % of controls. For vaccination, the corresponding figures were 49 and 54 %, respectively. CONCLUSION: The present results support previous reports of an association between a history of HBV infection with an elevated lymphoma risk and add multiple myeloma to the list of potentially virus-associated lymphoma entities.

Mots clés: Adult Aged Aged; 80 and over Case-Control Studies Europe Female Hepatitis B/*blood/*virology Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/blood Hepatitis B virus/*isolation & purification Hodgkin Disease/*blood/*virology Humans Leukemia; Lymphocytic; Chronic; B-Cell/blood/virology Lymphoma; Non-Hodgkin/*blood/*virology Male Middle Aged Multiple Myeloma/blood/virology Risk

Domaines: Santé publique et épidémiologie

N. Becker, P. Schnitzler, P. Boffetta, P. Brennan, L. Foretova, et al.. Hepatitis B virus infection and risk of lymphoma: results of a serological analysis within the European case-control study Epilymph. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 2012, 138 (12), pp.1993-2001. ⟨10.1007/s00432-012-1279-y⟩. ⟨hal-01262992⟩