Results announced recently at The International Liver CongressTM 2015 revealed that patients affected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) had significantly high cancer rates when compared to the non-HCV group. Scientists suggest that an extrahepatic HCV manifestation might be an increased risk of prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, renal and liver cancers. The study’s goal was to compare cancer rates in patients with and without being affected with HCV.
A retrospective study was conducted at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, and researchers recorded all cancer diagnoses in individuals over 18 years of age with or without HCV between 2008 and 2012. 145,210 patients enrolled in the HCV cohort, and 13,948,826 in the non-HCV.
Researchers concluded that, with all types of cancer considered, the cancer rate is 2.5 times higher in the HCV cohort than in the non-HCV cohort. If liver cancer is excluded from the calculation, the rate is still two times higher in this cohort.
“The results suggest that cancer rates are increased in the cohort of hepatitis C patients versus the non-hepatitis C patients, both including and excluding liver cancers. These findings certainly point to the suggestion that hepatitis C may be associated with an increased risk of cancer. However, the findings must be interpreted with caution, as the study also showed that confounding factors such as alcohol abuse, tobacco, obesity, and diabetes modified the results,” explained Lisa Nyberg, senior author.
Laurent Castera from the European Association for the Study of the Liver, added: “This data adds to the evidence bank linking hepatitis C with an increased risk of cancer, and highlights that there is still a long way to go in order to fully understand this complex and devastating disease.”
Notes About The International Liver Congress™
The International Liver Congress is an annual congress and the largest event of the EASL, attracting medical and scientific experts from the four corners of the world to know more about the latest novelties in liver research. Experts share their research projects and results to discuss liver disease. This year, about 10,000 delegates are expected at the congress. 2015 is a particularly important year for the hematology community and the EASL since it marks their 50th meeting. The International Liver Congress™ will be held on April 22-26 2015 in Vienna, Austria.