LYMPHOMAS OF THE ORAL SOFT-TISSUES ARE NOT PREFERENTIALLY ASSOCIATED WITH LATENT OR REPLICATIVE EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS

Objectives. Epstein-Barr virus is periodically shed in the saliva of p ersons infected by the virus.Epstein-Barr virus has been implicated in the pathogenesis of certain subtypes of lymphoma, particularly high-g rade lymphomas. Because high-grade subtypes represent the majority of lymphomas that arise in oral soft tissues, we hypothesized that Epstei n-Barr virus might be preferentially associated with oral lymphomas. S tudy Design, A series of 34 oral lymphomas were diagnosed according to the revised European-American classification scheme. They were examin ed for the presence of latent Epstein-Barr virus by EBER1 in situ hybr idization and for expression of the Epstein-Barr virus replicative pro tein, BZLF1, by immunohistochemistry. Results, Epstein-Barr virus EBER 1 transcripts were detected in 11 of 31 oral lymphomas including 7 of 10 AIDS-related lymphomas and only 4 of 21 lymphomas that occurred in nonimmunocompromised persons. The Epstein-Barr virus-containing lympho mas were art high-grade histologic subtypes, that is, diffuse large ce ll, immunoblastic, or Burkitt's lymphomas. In contrast, Epstein-Barr v irus was not detected in any of five tow-grade oral lymphomas. in the single case of T-cell lymphoma in this study, EBER1 was expressed in t he tumor cells. A switch from viral latency to replication, as measure d by EBV BZLF1 expression, was identified in rare lymphoma cells in on ly four cases. This rate of viral replication was not higher than what has been reported in lymphomas arising at other anatomic sites. Altho ugh one of our lymphomas arose at a site oi previous oral hairy leukop lakia, there was no other evidence that Epstein-Barr virus replication predisposed to development or persistence of oral lymphomas. Conclusi ons. These data suggest that even though Epstein-Barr virus is frequen tly found in oral secretions, neither latent nor replicative Epstein-B arr virus is present more commonly in oral lymphomas than in lymphomas arising in other anatomic sites, when controlling for immunodeficienc y status.