RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The role of Epstein-Barr virus in Hodgkin's disease from different geographical areas.
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 27
OP 31
DO 10.1136/adc.74.1.27
VO 74
IS 1
A1 M Weinreb
A1 P J Day
A1 F Niggli
A1 J E Powell
A1 F Raafat
A1 P B Hesseling
A1 J W Schneider
A1 P S Hartley
A1 F Tzortzatou-Stathopoulou
A1 E R Khalek
A1 A Mangoud
A1 U R El-Safy
A1 F Madanat
A1 M Al Sheyyab
A1 C Mpofu
A1 T Revesz
A1 R Rafii
A1 K Tiedemann
A1 K D Waters
A1 J C Barrantes
A1 A Nyongo
A1 M S Riyat
A1 J R Mann
YR 1996
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/74/1/27.abstract
AB Recent studies have suggested that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) may play a role in the aetiology of Hodgkin's disease. To determine the role of EBV in childhood Hodgkin's disease in different geographical areas, immunohistochemical staining and in situ hybridisation were used to analyse latent membrane protein 1 (LMP 1) and small nuclear non-transcribed RNAs (EBER-1) respectively. Testing for EBV within the Reed-Sternberg and Hodgkin's cells was carried out in childhood Hodgkin's disease from 10 different countries. The proportion of LMP 1 positive cases varied significantly, being 50% of cases from the United Kingdom (38/75), South Africa (9/18), Egypt (7/14), and Jordan (8/16), 60% from the United Arab Emirates (6/10), 70% from Australia (11/16), 81% from Costa Rica (34/42), 88% from Iran (7/8), 90% from Greece (20/22), and 100% of the 56 cases from Kenya. A sensitive polymerase chain reaction based EBV strain typing technique was established using archival tissues. EBV strain type 1 was shown to be predominant in childhood Hodgkin's disease from the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and Greece. Type 2 was predominant in Egypt. EBV strain types 1 and 2 were both detected in some cases of childhood Hodgkin's disease in the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, and Kenya. The high incidence of EBV and the presence especially in developing countries of dual infection with both strain types 1 and 2 may reflect socioeconomic conditions leading to malnutrition induced immunological impairment. The possibility of HIV infection also needs to be explored.