Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology

NHLs are clonal malignancies with diverse clinical presentations, pathogenesis and biologic behavior. It results from accumulation of genetic insults that lead to unregulated lymphocyte proliferation. Malignant lymphocytes usually accumulate in lymph nodes and cause the characteristic clinical feature of lymphadenopathy. HCV is a major cause of liver-related morbidity and is increasingly recognized as an instigator of B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders such as mixed cryoglobulinemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Fibronectin is a multifunctional glycoprotein of 250 kDa which is encoded by a gene of over 75 kb in length, located on chromosome 2q34{u2013}36 and composed of 50 exons. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the possible relationship between two FN polymorphisms (called MspI and HaeIIIb) and the development of lymphoma in HCV positive patients with mixed cryoglobulinemic syndrome compared to healthy age and sex matched individuals. The present study included 75 patients; 25 HCV positive patients with MCns and 50 NHL patients, in addition to 25 healthy controls. To achieve this aim, genotyping for FN gene was done by PCR- RFLP technique and screening for HCV infection was performed by ELISA and confirmed by RT-PCR, cryoglobulins were detected by cold precipitation (4{u00B0}C for 72{u2013} 96 h) and plasma FN levels were assessed by ELISA. The study revealed that HaeIII-AB genotype can be considered as a risk factor for NHL development and high HaeIII-A allele frequency seems to be linked to NHL development. It was also found that plasma FN level did not show any significant difference between NHL patients and each of HCV positive patients with MCns and controls

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