EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS AND BCL-2 PROTEIN OVEREXPRESSION ARE NOT DETECTED IN THE NEOPLASTIC-CELLS OF NODULAR LYMPHOCYTE PREDOMINANCE HODGKINS-DISEASE

Recent studies have indicated that nodular lymphocyte predominance Hod gkin's disease (nLP-HD) is a B-cell lymphoma, Although molecular event s in the neoplastic transformation of B-cells are not well understood, Epstein-Barr virus infection and bcl-2 protein overexpression have be en postulated to have etiologic roles in some lymphomas, Epstein-Barr virus has been demonstrated in the Reed-Sternberg cells of Hodgkin's d isease cases (other than nLP-HD) as well as in some B-cell lymphomas; bcl-2 overexpression is found in the majority of follicular lymphomas, The biologic role for bcl-2 in HD is controversial, Some reports have indicated the presence of bcl-2 gene rearrangements, associated with the t(14;18) (q32;q21), detected by the polymerase chain reaction in H D; recent studies have failed to confirm this finding. Reports in the literature describe only a few such analyses in the nLP-HD subtype. To address these conflicting issues, we examined 12 cases of nLP-HD to d etermine whether bcl-2 protein expression (by immunohistochemistry) an d Epstein-Barr virus (by in situ hybridization) could be detected in t he Reed-Sternberg variants, None of the cases showed expression of bcl -2 protein or Epstein-Barr virus RNA in the neoplastic cells, Epstein- Barr virus does not appear to play an important role in the pathogenes is of nLP-HD, Similarly, we cannot substantiate a role for bcl-2 in th e development of this type of Hodgkin's disease.