Association of Hepatitis Virus Infection with Acute and Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: a pilot Study

Background: the induction of cancers by exogenous agents, such as chemical, radiation and especially viruses have been an interested area of basic and clinical research. high prevalence of hbv marker has been found in patients with leukemia as compared to the general population. methods: present study was conducted from 1996 to 2010by comparing prevalence of hepatitis virus infection among patients with chronic and acute myeloid leukemia with non malignant patients. in this study we used, cytochemical staining, immunophenotyping, cytogenetic /molecular cytogenetics, elisa, enzyme immunoassay and western blot for the investigation of hepatitis viruses. results: hepatitis b virus was diagnosed in one non malignant control patient (%0.004) and four leukemia patients (%3). this difference was statistically significant (p=0.0047). conclusion: in this pilot study, the prevalence of hbv infection was higher in patients with leukemia than in patients as non malignant patients. our findings are also important as they are among the first to suggest here a potentially significant influence of hbv infection may plays a probably major role in the process of myeloid malignant development. however, the numbers of cases are not large enough to draw firm conclusion. moreover, we suggest that this pilot study, issue warrants further investigation by large consortium project