Epstein-Barr virus DNA and latent gene products in Ki-1 (CD30)-positive
anaplastic large cell lymphomas
H Herbst, F Dallenbach, M Hummel, G Niedobitek, T Finn, LS Young, M Rowe, N Muller-Lantzsch and H Stein
Institute of Pathology, Klinikum Steglitz, Free University of Berlin,
Germany.
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific DNA sequences were detected by polymerase
chain reaction analysis in 15 of 47 (32%) DNA extracts prepared from
CD30-positive (Ki-1 antigen-positive) anaplastic large cell (ALC)
lymphomas. EBV-encoded RNA (EBER) transcripts could be detected by in situ
hybridization in the tumor cells of 9 of 11 EBV DNA- positive cases.
Twenty-eight cases were examined by immunohistology on cryostat sections
for the presence of the EBV-encoded latent membrane protein (LMP), the
nuclear antigen 2 (EBNA2), the BZLF1 transactivator protein, and the late
viral glycoprotein gp350/250. A distinct LMP- specific membrane and
cytoplasmic staining was detected exclusively in lymphoma cells of five
cases (18%); two of these cases additionally expressed EBNA2. BZLF1 protein
and gp350/250 immunoreactivity was absent in all instances. All
LMP-positive cases contained EBV DNA and EBER sequences. The pattern of EBV
latent protein expression in ALC lymphomas showed heterogeneity with
respect to EBNA2 expression: LMP- positive/EBNA2-negative cases displayed a
pattern previously described for undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinomas
and Hodgkin's disease, whereas LMP-positive and EBNA2-positive cases showed
parallels to lymphoblastoid cell lines. Because the LMP gene has
transforming potential, our findings support the concept of a
pathoetiologic role for EBV in a proportion of CD30-positive ALC lymphomas.
Volume 78,
Issue 10,
pp. 2666-2673,
11/15/1991
Copyright © 1991 by The American Society of Hematology
