HIGH-INCIDENCE OF MONOCLONAL EBV EPISOMES IN HODGKINS-DISEASE AND ANAPLASTIC LARGE-CELL KI-1-POSITIVE LYMPHOMAS IN HIV-1-POSITIVE PATIENTS

A series of selected lymphoid malignancies (LMs) occurring in Italian HIV-I-infected (HiV+) patients, principally intravenous drug users, wa s investigated. In addition to small non-cleaved-cell (SNCC) and large -cell immunoblastic (LCI) non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs), a relatively high occurrence of anaplastic large-cell Ki-I-positive (ALC Ki-I+) ly mphomas and Hodgkin's disease (HD) was observed, at variance with othe r reported series of HIV+ patients. Combined results of in situ hybrid ization and Southern-blot analyses, in conjunction with immunohistoche mical detection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded latent membrane pr otein-I (LMP-I), showed an almost complete association of ALC Ki-I+ ly mphomas and HD cases with EBV. The neoplastic cells of both these LMs also showed common immunophenotypic features such as frequent absence of B- and T-cell differentiation markers and expression of the Ki-I ac tivation marker, while SNCC and LCI lymphomas were mainly of mature B- cell origin and Ki-I-. The concomitant high incidence of ALC Ki-I+ lym phomas and HD in a specific group of HIV+ patients, their almost compl ete association with EBV in clonal and episomal form and the great sim ilarity in differentiation, activation and virological markers which t hey display suggest that these LMs are pathological variants of a cont inuous spectrum of HIV-I-associated disorders etiopathologically linke d to EBV.