title: Epstein-Barr virus as an agent of haematological disease.
abstract: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) encodes genes that permit its persistence in human B lymphocytes and genes that ensure its replication in epithelial cells. Immune restraints on the virus are usually so effective that most EBV infections are limited to a minute fraction of B lymphocytes and of epithelial cells. As a result, most EBV infections are never symptomatic. Occasionally, the virus causes disease, often with the cooperation of the immune system or other less characterized cofactors. Infectious mononucleosis, a generally self-limited lymphoproliferative illness common in adolescents and young adults, is due to primary EBV infection and to the brisk cellular immune response it elicits. Lymphoproliferative disorders of EBV-infected B cells arise almost exclusively when cellular immunity is grossly compromised. EBV-positive Burkitt's lymphoma contain a translocated and deregulated c-myc oncogene and EBV-positive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas are characterized by the presence of Reed-Sternberg's and Hodgkin's cells, features that have not been directly linked to EBV. Many recent observations, however, including evidence that virus infection precedes malignant transformation and is often associated with a characteristic pattern of viral gene expression, provide continued interest in the relationship between the virus and these haematological malignancies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematologic Products, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, MD 20852-1448, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tosato
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taga
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Angiolillo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sgadari
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007244:Infectious Mononucleosis / Q000097:blood / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000145:classification / Q000821:virology; D008232:Lymphoproliferative Disorders / Q000401:mortality / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000821:virology; D012463:Saliva / Q000821:virology; D014180:Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D017735:Virus Latency; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins