Genomic and transcriptomic characterization reveals B‐cell hyperactivation and immune evasion in hepatitis B virus‐associated diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma.

(F) Peripheral Treg cells of relapsed or refractory DLBCL patients with current HBV infection before or after lenalidomide plus R-ICE treatment. gl In conclusion, DLBCLs with current HBV infection may refer as a specific entity with aggressive disease course and resistance to immunochemotherapy. Dear Editor, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an oncogenic virus and a major risk factor for developing hepatocellular carcinoma.[1] Growing evidence also suggests that HBV infection is linked to an increased incidence of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).[1] Among 1925 newly diagnosed DLBCL patients (Figure S1), we revealed that DLBCLs with current HBV infection (HBV-surface-antigen [HBsAg]+), instead of those with previous HBV infection (HBsAg- and antibodies against HBV-core-antigen+), correlated with high-risk clinical features (Table S1), as previously reported.[[2]] The prognostic impact of HBV infection in DLBCL remained controversial in the rituximab era,[[2]] largely due to the relatively small sample size of patients receiving rituximab-containing treatment. Besides, B-cell surface markers for B-cell development[5] were significantly higher in DLBCLs of current HBV infection than in non-HBV infection (Figure 1D). Here, among 1490 patients with R-CHOP treatment, we observed that the progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of DLBCLs with current HBV infection were significantly worse than those of non-HBV infection (Figure 1A,B). [Extracted from the article]