title: Epstein Barr Virus detection and latent membrane protein 1 in oral hairy leukoplakia in HIV+ Venezuelan patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of Epstein Barr virus (EBV) in oral hairy leukoplakia lesions (OHL) in HIV+ Venezuelan patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this case study, we evaluated 21 HIV+ adult patients with clinically present OHL lesions, 11 who were undergoing antiretroviral therapy, 10 who were not undergoing therapy and 10 HIV-negative adult patients with hyperkeratotic oral mucosal lesions. All of the subjects were assessed at the Infectious Disease Center, Faculty of Dentistry, Central University of Venezuela, and were clinically examined to detect oral mucosal lesions with the confirmed histopathologic diagnosis. Nested-PCR was used to determine the EBV infection and the latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1) expression by immunohistochemistry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the subjects, 16/21 (76%) of the HIV+/AIDS patients tested positive for EBV, whereas 5/10 (50%) of the HIV-negative subjects tested positive for EBV.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the present study, a higher EBV prevalence was observed in HIV-positive patients when compared to HIV-negative patients without oral hairy leukoplakia, confirming the etiologic role in this entity. The LMP-1 in OHL patients who were both HIV+ and EBV+ was highly expressed (60%) at the epithelial basal cells. No association between the alcohol and tobacco consumption was observed among the EBV-positive cases.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Oncología y Hematología, Ministerio del Poder Popular Para Salud, Instituto de Investigaciones Odontológicas Dr. Raúl Vincentelli, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Xiomara
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Correnti
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rivera
authors.forename: Marianella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perrone
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D017733:Leukoplakia, Hairy / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014687:Venezuela; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C037662:EBV-associated membrane antigen, Epstein-Barr virus; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins