Abstract

BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infected non-neoplastic lymphocytes in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL).
METHODS
Seventy-seven cases of HL were evaluated by immunohistochemical analysis and EBV-encoded RNA in situ hybridization. The cases were divided into three groups according to the EBV status. EBV was negative in 48 cases (group 1), EBV was located in the Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells, but not in the non-neoplastic lymphocytes in 20 cases (26%) (group 2) and EBV was located in both the HRS cells and the non-neoplastic lymphocytes in 9 cases (12%) (group 3).
RESULTS
The groups differed with respect to the age distribution, the clinical presentation and the prognosis. The median ages were 30 (group 1), 47.5 (group 2) and 23 years (group 3) (p = 0.011). B symptoms (p = 0.007) and the histologic subtype of mixed cellularity classical HL (p = 0.001) were more common in the EBV-positive patients than in their EBV-negative counterparts. Two patients from group 3 had associated chronic EBV infection syndrome. The five-year survival rate was 97.56% in group 1, 75.76% in group 2 and 100% in group 3 (p = 0.0178).
CONCLUSIONS
HL with EBV located in both the HRS cells and the non-neoplastic lymphocytes is a distinct prognostic subgroup that has better survival than the HL with EBV located in only the HRS cells.

• Keywords: Herpesvirus 4, human;Hodgkin disease;In situ hybridization