HIV-ASSOCIATED MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMAS IN KENYA (EQUATORIAL AFRICA)

The clinical and pathological features of acquired immune deficiency s yndrome (AIDS)-related lymphomas, including their relationship with ot her viruses, such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus-8 (HHV8), have been the subject of several studies from North America a nd Europe. No consistent data have been reported in Africa, where AIDS runs an epidemiological and clinical course different from that obser ved in Western countries. We retrospectively evaluated the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), HHV8, and EBV in 146 cases of mal ignant lymphomas collected in Kenya (Equatorial Africa), with the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in situ hybridization (LSH). Th e PCR technique confirmed HIV infection in 16 HIV-seropositive subject s (11%) and showed the presence of HIV sequences in five additional ca ses (3%) in which the occurrence of lymphoma was the only clinical man ifestation. Our findings suggest that AIDS-related lymphomas are not p athogenetically homogenous, and different mechanisms may contribute to lymphomagenesis in these severely immunocompromised patients. In our series, no association of Hodgkin's disease (HD) with HIV infection co uld be shown. Among non-HIV-related Lymphomas, EBV was present in 94% of Burkitt lymphoma (BL) occurring in patients younger than 15 years o f age, in 87% of HD independently of age, sex, and histological types, in 60% of anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), and to a lesser exte nt (13%) in large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) cases. Only one tumor, a case of HD, showed HHV8 by PCR Copyright (C) 1998 by W.B. Saunders Company .