Human herpesvirus type 7 in Hodgkin's disease.
Several lines of evidence have pointed to the involvement of a viral agent in the pathogenesis of Hodgkin's disease (HD). Therefore we investigated the presence of human herpesvirus type 7 (HHV-7) in 53 cases of HD by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry. HHV-7 DNA was frequently detected (68% of the cases) in HD biopsies by PCR independently of the histological type, whereas only 32% (P<0.05) of positive cases were found in 19 reactive lymph nodes. However, by applying the quantitative PCR technique, the majority of the samples showed a low level of viral load. Moreover, ISH for HHV-7 DNA was positive in a low number of small T lymphocytes and consistently negative in Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells, which appeared negative for HHV-7 also at immunohistochemistry. These results indicate that the high frequency of HHV-7 infection in HD: (i) is probably non-productive, (ii) mainly involves small lymphocytes belonging to the T-lineage, and (iii) is probably due to the recruitment of non-malignant reactive cells in HD tissue.
Secchiero
P
P
Institute of Human Anatomy, University of Ferrara, Italy.
Bonino
L D
LD
Lusso
P
P
Abele
M C
MC
Reato
G
G
Kerim
S
S
Palestro
G
G
Zauli
G
G
Valente
G
G
D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016199:Herpesvirus 7, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization / Q000379:methods; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D019562:Viral Load
D004279:DNA, Viral