CONTROL OF VIRUS-INDUCED LYMPHOPROLIFERATION - EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS-INDUCED LYMPHOPROLIFERATION AND HOST IMMUNITY

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a latent herpesvirus that is associated wi th a number of tumors, EBV-infected cells show three patterns of laten cy ranging from type 1, where only one EBV-encoded antigen is expresse d, to type 3, where all nine latent cycle proteins encoded by EBV are expressed, Malignancies exhibiting the type 3 latency pattern are high ly immunogenic and occur only in immunocompromised patients, It has re cently been shown that adoptive immunotherapy with EBV-specific cytoto xic T lymphocytes is an effective therapy for such tumors, Immunothera py strategies and approaches to increase tumor immunogenicity are slow being evaluated in tumors expressing type 2 latency.