الفهرس 
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Potential pathogenic mechanisms resulting in an OCIOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This study aimed to point out to the possible role of hepatitis C virus infection in patients with LPDs, also to investigate for the presence of occult HCV infections (OCI) in this group of patients. Material& Methods : This study included 113 newly diagnosed patients with LPDs attending the Oncology Center, Mansoura University for consultation. HCV by Real-Time PCR was carried out for all patients. According to the results, patients were classified into, group I which included 67 (59.3%) patients who are positive, and group II which included 46 (40.7%) patients who are negative.group II was tested for the presence of OCI by Real time HCV-PCR on RNA extraction from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and from L.N biopsy. Results : HCV are associated with lymphoproliferative disorder in 59.3% (67/113) and out of these 67 cases, 46 (68.7%) cases were DLBCL. Comparsion of HCV viral load in different types of LPDs revealed that no significant associations between HCV titers and different types of LPD. Our study confirm the existence of OCI in LPDs by detect it in 15 patients (HCV-PCR was positive in PBMCs and/or L.N while HCV-PCR was negative in serum) which consider 13.3% from all studied patients (15/113) and 32.6% from serum-HCV PCR negative (15/46). HCV-PCR in L.N has low sensitivity (41%) when compared to HCV-PCR in PBMC. ALT and AST were significantly high in OCI when compared to negative cases.Only high ALT was considered independent predictor for OCI within LPD patients. Conclusions : •There is a high association between HCV infection and LPDs (59% ). •LPD patients with elevated liver enzymes, negative anti-HCV antibodies, and negative serum HCV-RNA should be further tested for occult HCV infection (OCI) by HCV-PCR on PBMCs and/or L.N. Elevated ALT is a good predictor of OCI. •performance characteristics of HCV PCR on LN in relation to PBMCs showed a sensitivity 41.7%. •OCI was detected in13.3% (15/113) of all LPD patients.