Epstein-Barr virus in B-cell lymphomas associated with chronic suppurative inflamation

✍ Scribed by Copie-Bergman, Christiane; Niedobitek, Gerald; Mangham, David C.; Selves, Janick; Baloch, Khalid; Diss, Tim C.; Knowles, Daniel N.; Delsol, Georges; Isaacson, Peter G.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 439 KB
• Volume: 183
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-3417
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-9896(199711)183:3<287::aid-path932>3.0.co;2-q

✦ Synopsis

Chronic antigenic stimulation is considered to play an important role in neoplastic lymphoid transformation. This paper describes three cases of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) associated with long-standing chronic suppuration. Two were primary bone lymphomas associated with long-standing chronic osteomyelitis and one was a primary skin lymphoma associated with chronic venous ulcers with a latent period of 13 years. All were diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, with plasmacytoid differentiation in two cases. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded RNAs were demonstrated in virtually all tumour cells in all cases by in situ hybridization. Immunohistochemistry revealed EBV-encoded latent membrane protein (LMP)-1 expression in one case and BZLF1 protein expression in all three cases, whilst the EBV-encoded nuclear antigen (EBNA)-2 was not detected. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) sequences were absent in two cases studied. Our cases show similarities with pyothorax-associated pleural lymphomas reported mainly from Japan and recently from France, which are invariably associated with EBV. These findings suggest a causal effect of EBV in the development of this type of lymphoma complicating long-standing chronic suppuration. Localized immunodepression induced by chronic inflammation or immunosuppressive cytokines may favour the clonal proliferation of EBV-infected B cells.