BCR and lymphoma: While some viruses, such as EBV, HHV-8, and HTLV-1, can directly transform lymphocytes, the B cell dyscrasias and B cell lymphomas arising in patients chronically infected with HCV have long been suspected to be driven by chronic immune stimulation, either indirectly by a chronic inflammatory environment such as in Helicobacter-driven lymphomas or more directly through chronic stimulation of the BCR pathway by HCV antigens.3