title: Presence of Epstein-Barr virus and strain type assignment in Argentine childhood Hodgkin's disease.
abstract: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated in the etiology of a large number of malignancies. Most recently several studies have linked EBV to Hodgkin's disease. In this report, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues were collected retrospectively from 41 children with Hodgkin's disease treated at our hospital. Lymph node biopsies were examined for the presence of two virus-encoded latent proteins: latent membrane protein (LMP) and Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-2 (EBNA-2), in Reed-Sternberg (RS) and Hodgkin (H) cells, by peroxidase immunolabeling. Nonisotopic Epstein-Barr encoded RNAs (EBERs) in situ hybridization was also performed and positive labeling in malignant cells was detected. Twenty specimens were EBER+/LMP+, 2 were EBER+/LMP-, and 19 were EBER-/LMP-. However, none of the 41 cases expressed EBNA-2. Twenty-two of 41 (54%) cases were EBV positive including 2 of 6 with lymphocyte predominance, 19 of 25 with mixed cellularity, 0 of 9 with nodular sclerosis, and 1 of 1 with lymphocyte depletion. In the age range of 2 to 6 years, 14 of 17 (82%) samples were EBV-positive, whereas only 8 of 24 (33%) samples from the age range of 7 to 15 years contained EBV. (P = .004), a two-tailed Fisher's test). In 17 samples, polymerase chain reaction amplification was performed using strain specific primers for exon sequences of the EBNA-3C gene of EBV. From 12 positive samples, 8 contained EBV-A and 4 EBV-B. These results support the hypothesis that EBV contributes to the pathogenesis of pediatric Hodgkin's disease, particularly in mixed cellularity Hodgkin's disease and in the younger group.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Preciado
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Matteo
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Diez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Menárguez
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grinstein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral