title: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) load and interleukin-10 in EBV-positive and EBV-negative post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders.
abstract: Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLDs) are heterogeneous severe complications occurring in 1-10% of transplanted patients. In most cases, PTLDs are associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection but, recently, some clinical studies have reported an increasing number of EBV-negative PTLDs. Several studies have emphasized the critical role of the early identification of patients at risk for PTLD, in prompting the adoption of either pre-emptive strategies or timely treatment. To this purpose, monitoring of EBV DNA load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells is considered to be a useful test. Moreover, recently, the role of interleukin (IL)-10 in EBV-related diseases has been remarked, and high levels of IL-10 have been detected in PTLD patients. In this study, both EBV load and IL-10 were monitored in 38 PTLD patients at diagnosis and during follow-up, as well as in a control group, in order to establish the diagnostic role of the two tests, their relationship with the different PTLD subsets (EBV-positive and EBV-negative) and their behaviour during treatment. Results of our study suggest that the usefulness of IL-10 assay for early diagnosis of PTLD is similar to that of EBV load quantification, and its clinical diagnostic value is lower in EBV-negative than in EBV-positive PTLDs.
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Unit, Niguarda Hospital, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuliana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Muti
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Klersy
authors.forename: Fausto
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baldanti
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Granata
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Oreste
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pezzetti
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gatti
authors.forename: Livio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gargantini
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caramella
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mancini
authors.forename: Guiseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gerna
authors.forename: Enrica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Morra
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000150:complications*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood*; D008232:Lymphoproliferative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004279:DNA, Viral; D016753:Interleukin-10