Frequent expression of Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein-1 in tumour cells of Hodgkin's disease in HIV-positive patients

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is believed to be implicated in the aetiology of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas developing in immunodeficient individuals including AIDS patients. EBV has also been associaled with Hodgkin's disease (HD), where the genomes have been demonstrated in the Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg cells in some of the cases. Recent evidence has shown that EBV genomes are transcribed in these cells, because the EBV-encoded latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1) can be demonstrated in the tumour cells in about half of the HD cases in HIV-negative patients using immunohistochemistry. LMP-1 is of special interest as a possible oncogenic agent because of its strong transforming capacity in vitro. In this study we have examined the expression of LMP-1 in HD of HIV-positive patients compared with HD in HIV-negative patients. We investigated 18 lymph nodes from 16 HIV-positive patients with HD (eight mixed cellularity, nine nodular sclerosis, one unclassified) using the CS. 1–4 anti-LMP-1 monoclonal antibodies, which can usually be applied successfully to archival biopsy material. In each case, 50–90 per cent of the tumour cells were labelled. Staining was excellent for both fixatives used (4 per cent buffered formalin, Bouin's fluid). It is concluded that EBV-encoded LMP-1 is firmly associated with HD of HIV-positive patients. This is most conspicuous in the nodular sclerosing subtype HD in HIV-positive patients, in which 100 per cent were LMP-1 positive as compared with 32 per cent of nodular sclerosis HD in HIV-negative cases in a previously published series. This difference is statistically significant (P< 0.001). The possible biological and clinical significance of this difference should therefore be studied in larger series.