Smoking ups risk of virus-related Hodgkin lymphoma

NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) Smoking increases the risk of Hodgkin's lymphoma in general and the risk of Epstein-Barr virus-positive Hodgkin's lymphoma in particular, a study published in the journal Epidemiology shows.

Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer of the body's lymphatic system, characterized by enlargement of the lymph nodes, spleen, and liver and progressive anemia. Previous reports have linked Epstein-Barr virus, the cause of mononucleosis, with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

In the present study, Dr Eleanor V Willett of the University of York, UK and colleagues assessed the link between tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, Epstein-Barr virus-positive and Epstein-Barr virus-negative Hodgkin's lymphoma in patients between the ages of 16 and 66 living in a defined region of the UK around Yorkshire and Leeds.

The study involved 262 patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma and 262 similar subjects without lymphoma. Another 875 subjects from a study of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, belonging to another category of lymphomas, were used for comparison.

Past and current smokers were 40 and 70 per cent more likely, respectively, to develop Hodgkin's lymphoma than non-smokers. ''Associations were suggested for Epstein-Barr virus-positive Hodgkin's lymphoma'' but not for virus-negative cases, Willett's team says.

The investigators found no association between alcohol consumption and Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Smoking tobacco is known to suppress the immune system and the interaction with Epstein-Barr virus-infected cells lead to Hodgkin's lymphoma, the investigators speculate.

Whatever the reason, ''the public health message is that smoking may be a preventable risk factor for Epstein-Barr virus-positive Hodgkin's lymphoma tumors,'' they conclude.

REUTERS SY DS1050