Frequent expansion of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infected cells in germinal centres of tonsils from an area with a high incidence of EBV-associated lymphoma

• Published in: The Journal of pathology 1999-02, Vol.187 (3), p.326-330
• Main Authors: Araujo, Iguaracyra, Foss, Hans-Dieter, Hummel, Michael, Anagnostopoulos, Ioannis, Barbosa, Helenemarie S., Bittencourt, Achilea, Stein, Harald
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Brazil; Cell Division; Child; Child, Preschool; Developing Countries; Epstein-Barr virus; Epstein-Barr Virus Infections - pathology; Germinal Center - pathology; Germinal Center - virology; germinal centres; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; Herpesvirus 4, Human - isolation & purification; Herpesvirus 4, Human - physiology; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; In Situ Hybridization; Leukemias. Malignant lymphomas. Malignant reticulosis. Myelofibrosis; lymphoid tissue; lymphoma; Lymphoma - virology; Medical sciences; Palatine Tonsil - pathology; Palatine Tonsil - virology; RNA, Viral - analysis; tonsils; Virus Latency
• ISSN: 0022-3417; 1096-9896
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-9896(199902)187:3<326::AID-PATH242>3.0.CO;2-N

Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) and Hodgkin's disease (HD) occurring in developing regions are frequently associated with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection and have a high incidence in childhood. Recent genotyping studies indicate that the tumour cells of both neoplasms represent B cells that contain somatically mutated immunoglobulin heavy chain genes. This implies that the precursors of these neoplasms have participated in the germinal centre (GC) reaction. We therefore presumed that normal lymphoid tissues from children living in developing regions would harbour an increased number of EBV‐infected cells within the GC, when compared with children living in industrialized nations. To test this hypothesis, hyperplastic tonsils from 40 children living in Bahia (Brazil) and 40 from German children were analysed for the presence of EBV‐encoded small nuclear RNA (EBER) and EBV‐encoded proteins by in situ hybridization and immunohistology, respectively. Although the overall EBV infection rate was similar in both groups (50 per cent of Bahian vs. 45 per cent of German cases), a significantly higher number of EBER‐positive lymphoid cells were found in the GCs of 8/20 EBV‐positive tonsils from Brazil (9–89 cells/GC; mean: 14·5 cells/GC per case), while only 3/18 tonsils from Germany displayed a few EBER positive cells (1–9 cells/GC; mean: 0·5 cell/GC per case) in this compartment (p