Hepatitis C Viral Infection Is Not Associated with Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia.

Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) has previously been associated with the pathogenesis of low grade B-cell lymphoproliferative diseases including Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia (WM). Most of these studies have utilized HCV antibody detection assays, which may not accurately assess HCV presence in patients with impaired humoral responses. In patients with WM, pronounced IgA and IgG hypogammaglobulinemia is present, which remains persistant despite therapy (Blood 104:306b). As such, we investigated the incidence of HCV in 88 randomly selected, and previously untreated patients with the consensus panel diagnosis of WM utilizing both HCV antibody detection and qualitative PCR assays (Quest Diagnostics, Cambridge, MA, USA). The median age for these patients was 61 (38 – 83 years) and the male: female sex ratio was 1.44. No patient had a known history of liver disease, hepatitis B, HCV or HIV infection. Liver function tests obtained at time of serum collection showed normal range SGOT and and SGPT levels for 86/88 patients. In contrast to previous reports, we failed to demonstrate HCV infection by both HCV antibody detection and the PCR assays. These studies therefore show no association of WM with HCV infection.