Background: An association between monoclonal gammopathies and chronic liver diseases has been previously reported. Hence, the objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of monoclonal gammopathies in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Egypt.
Methods: This is a prospective study of 200 HCV-positive and 100 HCV-negative patients with chronic liver diseases recruited consecutively at the Kasr El Aini Hospital Departments of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Cairo University. Clinical data were gathered, serum protein electrophoresis was performed and immunoelectrophoresis was carried out for the detection of monoclonal component. Histological examination of bone marrow was performed in patients with monoclonal gammopathy.
Results: A monoclonal band was detected in 2% of the HCV-positive patients and in 0% of the HCV-negative patients (P > 0.05).
Conclusions: In this study, 4 cases of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance were observed in the HCV-positive group, whereas none was observed in the HCV-negative group, which supports prior observations that HCV infection is associated with an excess risk for monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance.