title: Epstein-Barr virus strains with latent membrane protein-1 deletions: prevalence in the Italian population and high association with human immunodeficiency virus-related Hodgkin's disease.
abstract: Six Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related lymphoproliferative disorders were investigated to verify whether the EBV strain harbored by neoplastic cells had the same EBNA-2 and latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1) DNA sequences of the virus carried by normal lymphocytes of the same patients. Within each case, the analysis of neoplastic lymph nodes, reactive lymphadenopathies, and/or EBV+ spontaneous lymphoblastoid cell lines gave concordant results with respect to type-specific EBNA-2 region and LMP-1 gene. In particular, five cases showed the same deletion in the 3' end of the LMP-1 gene in both normal and neoplastic cells. We also determined the prevalence of LMP-1 deletions in a large series of normal peripheral blood mononucleated cells (PBMCs) from Italian individuals. The analysis showed that 50% (9 of 18) of PBMCs from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seronegative donors carried a 30-bp deletion in the C-terminal portion of the LMP-1 gene, whereas a nondeleted fragment was amplified in about 44% (8 of 18) of the cases. Only one sample (5.6%) showed the amplification of a full-length LMP-1 band together with a deleted fragment. Similarly, PBMCs from HIV-infected patients showed an almost equivalent prevalence of full-length (17 of 37, 46%) and deleted (16 of 37, 43.2%) LMP-1 fragments, whereas about 11% of samples (4 of 37) showed evidence of double infections. Of note, deletions in the LMP-1 gene were detected with similar prevalence values in EBV+ Hodgkin's disease (HD) (13 of 30, 43.3%) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) (2 of 5, 40%) cases from HIV-seronegative patients and in HIV-related, EBV+ NHLs (4 of 7, 57.1%). Conversely, a 30-bp LMP-1 deletion was found in 10 of 12 HIV-associated HD cases (83%), a prevalence significantly higher than that detected in HIV-unrelated HD (P = .01). These findings indicate that: (1) the same EBV strain carrying LMP-1 deletions is harbored by normal and neoplastic cells of patients with EBV+ disorders, ruling out that these mutations might result from immunoselection phenomena; (2) in the Italian population, the prevalence of LMP-1 deletion mutants is comparable to that of EBV strains with full-length LMP-1; (3) HIV-induced immunosuppression is not associated with an increased prevalence of LMP-1 deletions in PBMCs; and (4) HIV-related HD cases, but not those of HIV-seronegative Italian patients, are closely correlated with the presence of LMP-1 deletions, suggesting that infection with these strains may increase the risk of developing HD in the HIV setting.
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Oncology 1, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dolcetti
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zancai
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: De Re
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gloghini
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bigoni
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pivetta
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Vita
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carbone
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boiocchi
mesh_terms: D017353:Gene Deletion; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D016483:Lymphoma, AIDS-Related / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015995:Prevalence; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C037662:EBV-associated membrane antigen, Epstein-Barr virus; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins