Both HIV and HCV infection exert B-cell dysregulation possibly leading to polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia, polyclonal B-cell hyperactivity, mixed cryoglobulinemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as a result of a chronic antigenic stimulation [1–6]. Specifically, HCV can induce B-cell proliferation by antigen stimulation and/or through the binding of its major envelope protein (HCV-E2) with the entry receptor CD81, a tetraspanin expressed on several cell types including human B cells [7,8].
