Primary Liver Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma following Complete Response for Hepatitis C Infection after Direct Antiviral Therapy

Acute myeloid leukaemia following direct acting antiviral drugs in HCV-infected patients: A 10 years' retrospective single-center study

BACKGROUND

After several cases of peculiar hematological malignancies following introduction of new oral anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatments in our recent practice, we aimed to systematically identify all cases of hematological malignancies (HM) in patients with chronic HCV infection and to compare them according to the prescription of oral anti-HCV Direct Acting Antivirals (DAA) treatment or not.

MATERIAL/METHODS

In this single-center retrospective observational study, we included all patients with confirmed HM and chronic HCV infection managed between 2010 and 2019 in the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, Paris. Non-inclusion criteria were a benign hematological disorder, an HM preceding chronic HCV infection and HCV acute infection. We compared characteristics of patients who received DAA before HM diagnosis to those with no DAA before HM.

RESULTS

Over the 10 years, 61 cases of HM among HCV infected patients were identified (female 29%, median age of 58.0 years [IQR 17]). Twenty-one received DAA before the onset of HM (Group DAA+) and 40 did not (Group DAA-) including 22 having received DAA after HM. In the DAA+ group, oral NS5B, NS5A and NS3A inhibitors were used in 90, 76 and 29% respectively. HM developed in the two years following DAA initiation in 76%. Eight (38%) had Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, 5 (24%) had an Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) including two with a mixed phenotype, 2 each had Hodgkin Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma or a myeloproliferative disorder and one each had a chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia or AL Amyloidosis. In the Group DAA-, HM were NHL in 20(50%) patients, Myeloproliferative neoplasms in 7 (17%), Multiple Myeloma in 5, Hodgkin Lymphoma in 3, Myelodysplastic syndrome and AML in 2 (5%) each and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in one. No significant difference between the groups DAA + and - was found according to age, sex, HCV genotype, viral load, co-infection or type and exposition of previous HCV treatments. AML, liver transplantation and cirrhosis were significantly more frequent in the DAA+ group (p = 0.020, 0.045 and 0.032, respectively).

CONCLUSION

AML seemed more frequent after using DAA treatments, notably in severe HCV patients including cirrhotic and/or liver transplanted patients. A multicentric observational study is ongoing to confirm and explore the results.

Profiling the physiological pitfalls of anti-hepatitis C direct-acting agents in budding yeast

Sofosbuvir and Daclatasvir are among the direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medications prescribed for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) virus infection as combination therapy with other antiviral medications. DAA-based therapy achieves high cure rates, reaching up to 97% depending on the genotype of the causative hepatitis C virus (HCV). While DAAs have been approved as an efficient and well-tolerated therapy for CHC, emerging concerns about adverse cardiac side effects, higher risk of recurrence and occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and doubts of genotoxicity have been reported. In our study, we investigated in detail physiological off-targets of DAAs and dissected the effects of these drugs on cellular organelles using budding yeast, a unicellular eukaryotic organism. DAAs were found to disturb the architecture of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the mitochondria, while showing no apparent genotoxicity or DNA damaging effect. Our study provides evidence that DAAs are not associated with genotoxicity and highlights the necessity for adjunctive antioxidant therapy to mitigate the adverse effects of DAAs on ER and mitochondria.

Primary hepatic large B-cell lymphoma following direct-acting antiviral treatment for hepatitis C

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health concern worldwide, raising important medical and economic issues. HCV-related end-stage liver disease is one of the most common indications for hepatic transplantation. Chronic hepatitis C is also assimilated to a systemic disease because of multiple extrahepatic manifestations, including lymphoproliferative disorders. The revolution of HCV treatment with the advent of direct-acting antivirals has significantly improved the management with high antiviral efficacy and good safety profile compared with old regimens, thus allowing good outcomes on hepatic and extrahepatic symptoms. However, with the widespread use of these new agents, controversial concerns about unexpected increasing cases of hepatocellular carcinoma were reported. We now report the case of a patient presenting with HCV-related cirrhosis, treated with direct-antiviral therapy and diagnosed with primary hepatic lymphoma shortly after the end of the treatment.

Development of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after sofosbuvir-ledipasvir treatment for chronic hepatitis C: A case report and literature review

Recently, treatments for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have significantly improved by the development of direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) and almost all patients with HCV can complete antiviral treatment without apparent adverse events. Malignant lymphoma, particularly B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is one of the extrahepatic manifestations associated with chronic HCV infection. The effectiveness of anti-HCV therapy with DAAs for B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has been demonstrated in recent reports, whereas late-onset B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after HCV eradication with DAAs has occasionally been reported. In the present study, a 77-year-old man with chronic hepatitis C and intermediate liver cancer risk received sofosbuvir-ledipasvir treatment for 12 weeks. Two months following the end of antiviral therapy, he had achieved sustained virologic response for 8 weeks. However, the patient occasionally found swelling of the right cervical lymph nodes without any subjective symptoms. Lymph node biopsy revealed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and whole-body ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography with computed tomography showed increased FDG uptake in the right cervical, right submandibular, mediastinal and mesenteric lymph nodes. The patient received six courses of rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisolone chemotherapy and achieved complete response at 8 months after chemotherapy initiation. Thus, the development of lymphoid malignancies may arise, even after HCV eradication with DAAs. Therefore, clinicians should be aware of such risks during and after antiviral treatment with DAAs.