Epstein Barr virus (EBV) in Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) from pediatric and adult series: a comparative study of expression and latency pattern

COHEN, M; NARBAITZ, M; METREBIAN, F; DE MATTEO, E; VISTAROP A; PRECIADO, M. V.; PAOLA ANDREA CHABAY

Oxford

Congreso; Epstein Barr virus 50th anniversary meeting; 2014

International Association for Research on Epstein-Barr virus and Associated Diseases

The 2008 WHO classification included a new entity, EBV+ DLBCL of the elderly, affecting patients older than 50 years. However, some reports of younger EBV+ DLBCL cases, without evidence of underlying immunosuppression, can be found. Type II/III latency pattern was described to be associated. Our aim was to assess EBV presence and latency pattern in an adult and pediatric DLBCL series of Argentina, to determine if there are age-specific characteristics. The study was conducted on biopsies from 74 adult and 26 pediatric DLBCL patients. EBERs expression was performed by in situ hybridization, while EBV gene expression of latent and lytic genes was analyzed by real-time PCR, and by LMP1 and LMP2A immunohistochemical expression. Nine percent of adult cases showed EBV expression, with similar frequency among patients younger and older than 50 years (13% and 8%, respectively), while 21% of pediatric cases were EBV+. Latency type III was the most frequently observed, together with lytic gene expression in EBV+ DLBCL with more than 20% of EBERs+ cells, while those cases below this cutoff showed latency I pattern. These findings suggest that EBV+ DLBCL in our series displayed the whole latent and some lytic gene expression profile without age-specific characteristics, with frequencies similar to the previously described in cohorts from Asia and Latin-America exclusively restricted to patients older than 50 years. Our findings reinforce the notion that EBV+ DLBCL may be an entity that is not only restricted to patients who are older than 50 years of age, in consequence the age cutoff revision may be reformulated.