Ml. Gulley et al., LYMPHOMAS OF THE ORAL SOFT-TISSUES ARE NOT PREFERENTIALLY ASSOCIATED WITH LATENT OR REPLICATIVE EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS, Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology, oral radiology and endodontics, 80(4), 1995, pp. 425-431
Citations number
35
Categorie Soggetti
Pathology,Surgery,"Dentistry,Oral Surgery & Medicine
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.