K. Ohshima et al., HETEROGENEITY OF EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS INFECTION IN ANGIOIMMUNOBLASTIC LYMPHADENOPATHY TYPE T-CELL LYMPHOMA, Histopathology, 25(6), 1994, pp. 569-579
To investigate the relationship of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and angioi
mmunoblastic lymphadenopathy with dysproteinemia, we performed DNA ana
lysis using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Southern blot, in sit
u hybridization, and immunohistochemical analysis of lymph nodes in fi
ve patients who were followed up and biopsied more than once. In the c
ourse of the disease, nodal architecture diminished, cellular atypia w
orsened, and clear cells increased in number. In the DNA analysis of t
he receptor genes, the clonal population increased in number. EBV nucl
eic acid sequences were found by either PCR or in situ hybridization i
n all examined nodes. The number of EBV-positive cells varied widely a
mong the cases and throughout the course of the disease in the same pa
tients. The analysis of EBV terminal repeats or lymphocyte-determined
membrane antigen genes showed polyclonal populations of EB-infected ce
lls. EBV-positive cells possessed intermediate- to large-sized nuclei,
and the cells with large nuclei, especially, expressed latent membran
e protein of EBV. These large cells varied in number among the cases.
Double-labelling immunohistochemistry/in situ hybridization studies de
monstrated that most of the EBV-positive cells expressed B-cell antige
n (CD20). The presence of EBV seems to be associated with the selectiv
e defects of the immune system, rather than with the direct pathogenes
is of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy.