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Background: Oncogenesis is a multifactorial process affected by environmental, genetic and infectious factors. A possible role of some specific viruses has been suggested in at least 15% of human cancer cases.
Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency of HCV infection in patients with lung cancer and thus contribute to the documentation of a possible relationship between lung cancer and HCV infection.
Methods: Anti-HCV antibodies were measured in sera from 45 patients with lung cancer and in sera from 80 patients with benign lung diseases and 135 healthy individuals. A commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent kit assay was used in the analyses.
Results: Anti-HCV antibodies were positive in 6.7% of lung cancer patients while no anti-HCV antibody was detected in patients with benign lung diseases (p<0.05). In healthy controls, anti-HCV antibodies were positive in one subject (0.7 %). The histopathologic diagnosis of the 3 patients with positive anti-HCV antibodies was non-small-cell cancer (squamous cell carcinoma in one case, adenocancer in the second, and adenosquamous cell carcinoma in the third patient). Hepatitis B surface antigen was present in 4 of the 45 patients with lung cancer and in 8 of the 80 benign lung disease cases (p>0.05).
Conclusions: The prevalence of anti-HCV positivity in patients with lung cancer was shown to be significantly higher than patients with benign lung disease and healthy individuals in our population. However, further studies which include a larger number of patients with HCV infection are needed to confirm this finding.