Antiviral treatment Reduces Risk of Development of Lung Cancer and non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-28-2025

Publication Title

Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Antiviral treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been shown to reduce risk of liver cancer, but there are few studies on its impact on the risk of non-liver cancers. We used a large cohort of HCV patients with extensive follow-up to investigate whether receipt of antiviral therapy affects the risk of extrahepatic cancers.

METHODS: 17,485 HCV patients were followed until incidence of lung cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), breast or prostate cancer, death, or last follow-up. We used multivariable modeling with time-varying covariates and propensity scores to adjust for treatment selection bias; we also applied generalized estimating equations (GEE) with a multinominal link function for discrete time-to-event data. Death was considered a competing risk.

RESULTS: After 15 years of follow-up, we identified 408 incident cases of cancers, including 140 lung, 72 NHL, 81 breast (female), and 115 prostate. Compared to no treatment, patients who receive either direct-acting antivirals (DAA) or interferon-based (IFN) treatment had significantly lower risk of lung cancer (hazard ratio [HR]= 0.35, 95% CI 0.24-0.52 for achieving sustained virological response [SVR]; HR= 0.34, 95% CI 0.21-0.55 for treatment failure). Risk of NHL was reduced only among patients who achieved SVR. There were no significant associations between antiviral therapy and risks of breast and prostate cancer.

CONCLUSIONS: Antiviral treatment for HCV independently reduced the risk of lung cancer, while the protective association with NHL was limited to patients achieving SVRs.

IMPACT: Our findings support the importance of timely initiation antiviral therapy in patients with chronic HCV.

PubMed ID

40874910

ePublication

ePub ahead of print

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