Correlation Between the Hepatitis C Virus NS3 Protein and CD30 Expression in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

One of the etiologies of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is chronic infection related to lymphoma pathogenesis, with a high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection seen. In determining the treatment and prognosis of NHL, cluster of differentiation 30 (CD30) immunohistochemical staining plays an important role. High levels of CD30 are found in patients with HCV infection. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of CD30 and HCV expression and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics of Indonesian diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients.

A total of 86 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples of DLBCL cases were collected over the course of two years from the Anatomical Pathology department at Dr. Sardjito General Hospital in the special region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the two markers (CD30 and HCV). Chi-square tests were used to investigate the correlations between CD30 expression and clinicopathological features in DLBCL patients.

The positivity rate of CD30 expression in 86 DLBCL samples was 25.6% (22/86) when using a 0% cut-off, and 7.0% (6/86) while using a 20% cutoff. The positivity rate of HCV expression in DLBCL samples was 34.9% (30/86). Positive CD30 expression, HCV expression and clinicopathological features (age, sex, Ann Arbor stage, extranodal involvement, and morphological variations) did not have statistically significant relationships (p>0.05).

There was no statistically significant correlation between CD30 immunoreactivity (cut-off >0% or >20%) and HCV NS3 expression and clinicopathological features (age, sex, Ann Arbor stage, extranodal involvement, lactate dehydrogenase, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group status and morphological variants) in DLBCL.