User login
©ASCO/Brian Powers
CHICAGO—Hepatitis C reactivation does not worsen survival outcomes for HIV-positive patients diagnosed with lymphoma, new research indicates.
The study showed these patients can tolerate chemotherapy without adverse outcomes and are therefore eligible for aggressive treatment.
They should be closely monitored, however, according to study investigator Stefan K. Barta, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dr Barta and his colleagues presented results observed in HIV-positive lymphoma patients at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting as abstract 8578.
The team noted that more than a quarter of HIV-positive patients are also infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which may complicate treatment and care decisions after a cancer diagnosis.
“Patients undergoing chemotherapy can experience reactivation of the hepatitis C virus, which, in turn, can lead to liver failure,” Dr Barta said. “This means we have to dose-reduce chemotherapy, which could negatively affect outcomes.”
In addition, HIV-positive patients often take a host of other medications, including anti-retrovirals, which makes them especially vulnerable to side effects.
However, Dr Barta said these potential risks shouldn’t deter oncologists from treating these patients with chemotherapy because he and his colleagues found that reactivation of HCV did not worsen survival outcomes in this population.
The researchers analyzed the medical records of 190 HIV-positive patients who had been diagnosed with lymphoma at the Albert Einstein Cancer Center in Bronx, New York, from 1997 to 2013. Patients with primary central nervous system lymphomas were excluded.
Fifty-three (28%) eligible patients were also infected with HCV. The virus reactivated in 17 of those patients, or about one-third of the patient population infected with HCV, during treatment.
Patients infected with HCV had an overall survival of 59.7 months, compared to 88.6 months for patients with neither HCV nor hepatitis B virus (HBV).
However, that survival advantage vanished when the researchers adjusted for variables including age, sex, race, CD4 count, the presence of cirrhosis, type of lymphoma, and levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH).
The multivariate analysis showed that co-infection with HCV was not associated with lower overall survival in lymphoma patients.
At the same time, the researchers did find worse overall survival outcomes associated with low CD4 count (below 100 cells/cubic millimeter), a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, advanced stage disease, LDH levels over 190, or cirrhosis.
Dr Barta said he hopes this research will open cancer trials up to an understudied patient population. HIV-positive patients with HCV are often excluded from these trials because of concerns about liver failure and toxicity arising from the interaction of retroviral medications with chemotherapy.
“This is really important for a large proportion of patients,” he said. “We want to assure researchers that these patients, as long as they have adequate liver function, should also be enrolled in clinical trials.” 
©ASCO/Brian Powers
CHICAGO—Hepatitis C reactivation does not worsen survival outcomes for HIV-positive patients diagnosed with lymphoma, new research indicates.
The study showed these patients can tolerate chemotherapy without adverse outcomes and are therefore eligible for aggressive treatment.
They should be closely monitored, however, according to study investigator Stefan K. Barta, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dr Barta and his colleagues presented results observed in HIV-positive lymphoma patients at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting as abstract 8578.
The team noted that more than a quarter of HIV-positive patients are also infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which may complicate treatment and care decisions after a cancer diagnosis.
“Patients undergoing chemotherapy can experience reactivation of the hepatitis C virus, which, in turn, can lead to liver failure,” Dr Barta said. “This means we have to dose-reduce chemotherapy, which could negatively affect outcomes.”
In addition, HIV-positive patients often take a host of other medications, including anti-retrovirals, which makes them especially vulnerable to side effects.
However, Dr Barta said these potential risks shouldn’t deter oncologists from treating these patients with chemotherapy because he and his colleagues found that reactivation of HCV did not worsen survival outcomes in this population.
The researchers analyzed the medical records of 190 HIV-positive patients who had been diagnosed with lymphoma at the Albert Einstein Cancer Center in Bronx, New York, from 1997 to 2013. Patients with primary central nervous system lymphomas were excluded.
Fifty-three (28%) eligible patients were also infected with HCV. The virus reactivated in 17 of those patients, or about one-third of the patient population infected with HCV, during treatment.
Patients infected with HCV had an overall survival of 59.7 months, compared to 88.6 months for patients with neither HCV nor hepatitis B virus (HBV).
However, that survival advantage vanished when the researchers adjusted for variables including age, sex, race, CD4 count, the presence of cirrhosis, type of lymphoma, and levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH).
The multivariate analysis showed that co-infection with HCV was not associated with lower overall survival in lymphoma patients.
At the same time, the researchers did find worse overall survival outcomes associated with low CD4 count (below 100 cells/cubic millimeter), a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, advanced stage disease, LDH levels over 190, or cirrhosis.
Dr Barta said he hopes this research will open cancer trials up to an understudied patient population. HIV-positive patients with HCV are often excluded from these trials because of concerns about liver failure and toxicity arising from the interaction of retroviral medications with chemotherapy.
“This is really important for a large proportion of patients,” he said. “We want to assure researchers that these patients, as long as they have adequate liver function, should also be enrolled in clinical trials.”
©ASCO/Brian Powers
CHICAGO—Hepatitis C reactivation does not worsen survival outcomes for HIV-positive patients diagnosed with lymphoma, new research indicates.
The study showed these patients can tolerate chemotherapy without adverse outcomes and are therefore eligible for aggressive treatment.
They should be closely monitored, however, according to study investigator Stefan K. Barta, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dr Barta and his colleagues presented results observed in HIV-positive lymphoma patients at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting as abstract 8578.
The team noted that more than a quarter of HIV-positive patients are also infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which may complicate treatment and care decisions after a cancer diagnosis.
“Patients undergoing chemotherapy can experience reactivation of the hepatitis C virus, which, in turn, can lead to liver failure,” Dr Barta said. “This means we have to dose-reduce chemotherapy, which could negatively affect outcomes.”
In addition, HIV-positive patients often take a host of other medications, including anti-retrovirals, which makes them especially vulnerable to side effects.
However, Dr Barta said these potential risks shouldn’t deter oncologists from treating these patients with chemotherapy because he and his colleagues found that reactivation of HCV did not worsen survival outcomes in this population.
The researchers analyzed the medical records of 190 HIV-positive patients who had been diagnosed with lymphoma at the Albert Einstein Cancer Center in Bronx, New York, from 1997 to 2013. Patients with primary central nervous system lymphomas were excluded.
Fifty-three (28%) eligible patients were also infected with HCV. The virus reactivated in 17 of those patients, or about one-third of the patient population infected with HCV, during treatment.
Patients infected with HCV had an overall survival of 59.7 months, compared to 88.6 months for patients with neither HCV nor hepatitis B virus (HBV).
However, that survival advantage vanished when the researchers adjusted for variables including age, sex, race, CD4 count, the presence of cirrhosis, type of lymphoma, and levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH).
The multivariate analysis showed that co-infection with HCV was not associated with lower overall survival in lymphoma patients.
At the same time, the researchers did find worse overall survival outcomes associated with low CD4 count (below 100 cells/cubic millimeter), a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, advanced stage disease, LDH levels over 190, or cirrhosis.
Dr Barta said he hopes this research will open cancer trials up to an understudied patient population. HIV-positive patients with HCV are often excluded from these trials because of concerns about liver failure and toxicity arising from the interaction of retroviral medications with chemotherapy.
“This is really important for a large proportion of patients,” he said. “We want to assure researchers that these patients, as long as they have adequate liver function, should also be enrolled in clinical trials.”