B. Schlehofer et al., SEROEPIDEMIOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF THE RISK OF VIRUS-INFECTIONS FOR CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA, International journal of cancer, 65(5), 1996, pp. 584-590
Virus infections have been thought to be involved in the development o
f childhood leukaemia. In order to address this issue we determined, i
n a case control study, the prevalence of antibodies to viruses infect
ing blood or bone-marrow cells [Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpes
virus type 6 (HHV-6), parvovirus B19] as well as to the human virus k
nown for its tumour-suppressive properties, the adeno-associated virus
type 2 (AAV-2), in the sera of 121 children with leukaemia in Germany
, and in 197 control individuals, hospitalized for other reasons, and
matched for age and gender to the cases. In addition, we developed a q
uestionnaire to be answered by the children's parents, in order to gai
n information on previous infections of the children as well as to cal
culate for factors which may influence serological findings. Comparati
ve determination of the prevalence of antibodies against AAV-2, B-19 o
r HHV-6 revealed no significant differences in cases and controls. How
ever, antibodies to EBV were more frequently found in children with le
ukaemia younger than 6 years of age (age at the time of diagnosis of l
eukaemia) than in controls. Apparently, infection with AAV-2 has no pr
otective effect in childhood leukaemia, in contrast to results observe
d for other malignancies. Similarly, and in accordance with results on
leukaemia in adults, we found no indication of a protective effect of
infection with the parvovirus B-19. The data suggest that EBV, which
is known to be involved in various lymphomas, may play a role in the d
evelopment of childhood leukaemia in young children. (C) 1996 Wiley-Li
ss, Inc.