Premium
Epstein‐barr virus antibody patterns preceding the diagnosis of non‐hodgkin's lymphoma
Author(s) -
Mueller Nancy,
Mohar Alejandro,
Evans Alfred,
Harris Nancy L.,
Comstock George W.,
Jellum Egil,
Magnus Knut,
Orentreich Norman,
Frank Polk B.,
Vogelman Joseph
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910490313
Subject(s) - serology , lymphoma , medicine , immunology , immunosuppression , population , titer , cytomegalovirus , antibody , malignancy , virus , epstein–barr virus , antibody titer , antigen , herpesviridae , viral disease , environmental health
Immunosuppressed patients who develop non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) have abnormal antibody responses against the Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) prior to the diagnosis of malignancy. To see if this is also true of „spontaneous” cases in the general population, we undertook a collaborative serologic case‐control study. From 4 serum banks containing specimens from over 240,000 persons, 104 subjects were identified for whom a blood specimen had been stored an average of 63 months before diagnosis of NHL, and 259 controls matched for age, sex, ethnic group and date of serum collection. The relative risks (RR) for subsequent development of NHL associated with elevated levels of IgG and IgM antibodies against viral capsid antigen were 2.5 (95% confidence interval = 1.1‐5.7) and 3.2 (1.3‐7.5), respectively; these associations increased with age at diagnosis. For the nuclear antigen, the distribution of titers for cases was more restricted than that of controls, with fewer cases having either elevated or low titers, RR = 0.5 (0.2‐1.4) and 0.5 (0.2‐1.2), respectively. Cases had significantly lower antibody titers against the cytomegalovirus, RR = 0.4 (0.2‐0.9). These findings suggest that, at least for some patients, NHL is preceded by an enhanced level of endogenous immunosuppression with resultant EBV activation. This observation supports the role of EBV either directly in the development of NHL or as a primary marker of immune dysfunction.