DETECTION OF EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS IN HODGKINS-DISEASE OCCURRING IN AN ORIENTAL POPULATION

Like Burkitt's lymphoma, the strength of association of Epstein-Barr v irus (EBV) with Hodgkin's disease occurring in different populations a nd clinical settings is highly variable, being 30% to 50% in Western c ountries, nearly 100% in Third World countries like Peru and Honduras, and nearly 100% in patients seropositive for human immunodeficiency v irus. Data on the Oriental populations are very limited. Therefore, th e current study was performed on the Chinese population of Hong Kong, where the incidence of Hodgkin's disease is low and EBV seroconversion occurs early in life. Twenty-three consecutive samples of Hodgkin's d isease collected from 18 male and five female patients over a 12-year period were studied. The first age peak occurred in the second decade of life and the second peak in the seventh decade. Using the sensitive and specific EBV-encoded RNAs (EBERs) in situ localization technique, positive labeling of the Reed-Sternberg cells and their variants was detected in five of Eve samples (100%) of mixed cellularity, nine of 1 6 samples (56%) of nodular sclerosing; one of one sample (100%) of lym phocyte depleted, and none of one sample (Ore) of nodular lymphocyte p redominant Hodgkin's disease. Further analysis of the data by age grou p yielded the following results: four of five (80%) for age younger th an 15 years, three of nine (33%) for age 15 to 49, and eight of nine ( 89%) for age 50 or higher, confirming the reported strong association of EBV with Hodgkin's disease at the extremes of life. The overall pos itivity rate was 65%, which was intermediate between that reported in the Western populations and that in the Third World countries. These f indings can be explained by the epidemiological pattern of Hodg- kin's disease in Hong Kong, in which the first age peak is left-shifted to a younger age compared with that of Western populations (but not as ea rly as that observed in Third World countries), moving the peak toward an age bracket in which Hodgkin's disease shows stronger association with EBV. Copyright (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company