SEROEPIDEMIOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF THE RISK OF VIRUS-INFECTIONS FOR CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA

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.