Detection of Epstein-Barr viral RNA in malignant lymphomas of the upper aerodigestive tract.
Recent studies have suggested a probable etiologic association between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and nasal lymphomas, irrespective of geographic location. This study was performed to investigate the strength of association of EBV with non-Hodgkin's lymphomas of the upper aerodigestive tract, based on a large series of cases that have been thoroughly immunophenotyped on frozen tissues. A sensitive in situ hybridization technique was used to detect EBV encoded RNA (EBER) in paraffin sections. Among 30 cases of nasal/nasopharyngeal T-cell lymphoma, 25 (83.3%) were EBER-positive. In the positive cases, most of the neoplastic cells showed strong nuclear signals. Further analysis of this group of tumors showed that all 21 cases (100%) with a CD56+ CD3-phenotype were EBER positive, whereas four of nine cases (44.4%) with a CD56-negative immunophenotype were positive. Only one of 10 cases (10%) of nasal/nasopharyngeal B-cell lymphoma was EBER positive; the positive case was a diffuse mixed-cell lymphoma and could not be distinguished morphologically from the negative cases. Among the 21 cases of lymphoma of the tonsils and back of the tongue (20 B-lineage and one T-lineage), none was EBER positive. In the normal mucosa of the nose/nasopharynx or tonsil (20 cases studied), only very rare EBER-positive small lymphocytes were found in two cases. The almost exclusive detection of EBER in nasal/nasopharyngeal T-cell neoplasms among the lymphomas of the upper aerodigestive tract suggests that EBV probably plays an etiologic role in the pathogenesis of this group of tumors and is not simply a passenger virus, and neither is this merely a site-dependent phenomenon in view of the weak association with nasal/nasopharyngeal B-cell lymphoma.
Chan
J K
JK
Department of Pathology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Yip
T T
TT
Tsang
W Y
WY
Ng
C S
CS
Lau
W H
WH
Poon
Y F
YF
Wong
C C
CC
Ma
V W
VW
D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D009669:Nose Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; D014067:Tonsillar Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology
D012367:RNA, Viral; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; C067169:RPL22 protein, human