PRESENCE OF EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS AND STRAIN TYPE ASSIGNMENT IN ARGENTINE CHILDHOOD HODGKINS-DISEASE

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated in the etiology of a large number of malignancies, Most recently several studies have linked EBV to Hodgkin's disease. In this report, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues were collected retrospectively from 41 children with Hodgkin's disease treated at our hospital. Lymph node biopsies were examined for the presence of two virus-encoded latent proteins: latent membrane protein (LMP) and Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-2 (EBNA-2), in Reed-Sternberg (RS) and Hodgkin (H) cells, by peroxidase immunolabeling, Nonisotopic Epstein-Barr encoded RNAs (EBERs) in situ hybridization was also performed and positive labeling in malignant cells was detected, Twenty specimens were EBER+/LMP+, 2 were EBER+/LMP-, and 19 were EBER-/LMP-. However, none of the 41 cases expressed EBNA-2, Twenty-two of 41 (54%) cases were EBV positive including 2 of 6 with lymphocyte predominance, 19 of 25 with mixed cellularity, 0 of 9 with nodular sclerosis, and 1 of 1 with lymphocyte depletion, In the age range of 2 to 6 years, 14 of 17 (82%) samples were EBV-positive, whereas only 8 of 24 (33%) samples from the age range of 7 to 15 years contained EBV, (P = .004, a two-tailed Fisher's test). In 17 samples, polymerase chain reaction amplification was performed using strain specific primers for exon sequences of the EBNA-3C gene of EBV, From 12 positive samples, 8 contained EBV-A and 4 EBV-B. These results support the hypothesis that EBV contributes to the pathogenesis of pediatric Hodgkin's disease, particularly in mixed cellularity Hodgkin's disease and in the younger group. (C) 1995 by The American Society of Hematology.