Malignancies after heart transplantation: presence of Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus

The presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human papilloma virus (HPV), and cytomegalovirus (CMV) was studied in 20 patients who developed malignancies after heart transplantation in the Helsinki University Central Hospital. T he tumors were analyzed for the presence of HPV by polymerase chain reactio n and for EBV by in situ hybridization. Clinical CMV infection was verified by immunochemical quantitation of CMV antigen in peripheral blood cells. H PV was detected in one of the eight epithelial malignant tumors studied. Th ree of the six lymphomas were positive for EBV. Two (67%) of 3 patients wit h EBV-positive lymphomas and one (33%) of the other three lymphomas but onl y 2 (14%) of 14 patients who developed other malignancies had a history of a manifest post-transplantation CMV infection prior to the development of m alignancy. These results confirm the presence of EBV in lymphomas of heart transplant recipients and suggest that CMV might have a contributory role i n the development of EBV-associated lymphomas.