IMMUNOGLOBULIN AND T-CELL RECEPTOR-BETA CHAIN GENE REARRANGEMENTS ANDEPSTEIN-BARR VIRAL-DNA IN TISSUES OF HODGKINS-DISEASE IN TAIWAN

Nineteen patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD), representing 4 differen t subtypes, were examined for immunophenotype and immunogenotype. Quan titative immunophenotypic analysis of 13 cases revealed a predominance of Leu1 and Leu3 T cells in all subtypes, except in the case of HD ly mphocytic-depression (HDLD). The positive rate of LeuM1 and Ki1 in Ree d-Sternberg (RS) cells was 65% (11/17) and 73% (11/15), respectively. In DNA hybridization analysis, 5 of the 19 cases of HD were found to h ave gene rearrangements - immunoglobulin (Ig) gene rearrangements in 3 cases and T cell receptor beta chain (TCRbeta) gene rearrangements in 2 cases. Epstein-Barr (EBV) DNA genomes were detected in 8 cases, inc luding 2 of 5 cases which previously had been shown to contain clonal Ig and TCRbeta gene rearrangements. By contrast, there were no detecta ble cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA sequences in 19 cases of HD or 30 cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Although our findings differed somewh at from those obtained on Westerners, they suggest the presence of a m onoclonal lymphoid population in HD patients and that the EBV is relat ed to the etiology of HD.