Candidate gene association studies and risk of Hodgkin lymphoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

To evaluate the contribution of association studies of candidate polymorphisms to inherited predisposition to Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published case-control studies. Of the variants examined more than once in candidate gene association studies, we identified 21 studies that reported on 12 polymorphic variants in 10 genes. Data were also extracted from a published genome wide association study to allow analysis of an additional 47 variants in a further 30 genes. Promising associations were seen in nine of the variants (p  0.2), these findings should be interpreted with caution. While studies of candidate polymorphisms may be an attractive means of identifying risk factors for HL, future studies should employ sample sizes adequately powered to identify variants having only modest effects on HL risk. Furthermore, because of aetiological heterogeneity within HL, stratification of genotyping according to age, tumour Epstein-Barr virus status and histology is essential. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Anemia and thrombocytopenia due to parvovirus B-19 infection in a pregnant woman

Anemia and thrombocytopenia in a patient with parvovirus B-19 and hepatitis C infection is reported. A seven month-pregnant 20 year-old patient had been first found to be anemic and thrombocytopenic 40 days before admission to our hospital and she had been given methylprednisolone and red cell transfusions. She gave birth to a healthy baby after only eight months of pregnancy. Ten days after delivery she was admitted to our hospital because of anemia and thrombocytopenia which did not respond to treatment. On admission, the blood count showed hemoglobin 8.1 g/dL, hematocrit 23.7%, white blood cells 11200/mu L, platelets 1000/mu L, and reticulocytes 0.6%. Bone marrow smear and biopsy revealed erytroblastopenia and the absence of megakaryocytes. Liver enzymes were also high (alanine aminotransferase 1469 Units/L and aspartate aminotransferase 981 Units/L). In serologic studies PVB-19 IgM was found to be positive and hepatitis C virus RNA was detected. Red cell and platelet values returned to normal levels after cessation of methylprednisolone and concomitantly PVB-19 IgG was found positive in association with IgM in repeated determinations. PVB-19 was thought to be responsible for both anemia and thrombocytopenia