Epstein Barr virus (EBV) latent membrane protein (LMP) in tumor cells of Hodgkin's Disease in pediatric patients.

MARIA VICTORIA PRECIADO; DE MATTEO, E.; DIEZ, B.; GRISNTEIN, S.

Medical and Pediatric Oncology

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Año: 1995 vol. 24 p. 1 - 5

0098-1532

                          Abstract Twenty nine out of 31 consecutive pediatric patients with Hodgkin's Disease treated at our Hospital from 1988 to 1992 were studied. The selection criterion was the availability of sufficient formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissue for analysis. Patient age ranged from 3 to 15 years with a median age of 7 years. Lymph node biopsies were studied for the presence of EBV encoded LMP in malignant cells by peroxidase inmunolabeling. LMP positivity was present in 10/15 (67%) of mixed cellularity,  1/6 (17%) of lymphocyte predominance, 0/7 (0%) of nodular sclerosis and 1/1 (100%) of lymphocyte depletion. Positive cases by age range were: 10/12 (83%) for 3-6 years and 2/17 (11%) for 7-15 years. The association between EBV and Hodgkin's Disease in children appeared to be more frequent in patients with mixed cellularity and those in the 3-6 age range, though examples of EBV positive tumors were found in other histologic subtypes, stages and ages. Findings indicate that Hodgkin's Disease in children is at least as strongly linked to EBV as in adults. Furthermore, we suggest that EBV is associated with a subgroup of patients which can be defined on the basis of the age at diagnosis.