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Human herpesvirus type 7 in Hodgkin's disease
Author(s) -
Secchiero Paola,
Davico Bonino Laura,
Lusso Paolo,
Abele Maria Cristina,
Reato Gigliola,
Kerim Simonetta,
Palestro Giorgio,
Zauli Giorgio,
Valente Guido
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2141.1998.00718.x
Subject(s) - immunohistochemistry , in situ hybridization , polymerase chain reaction , pathogenesis , biology , lymph , pathology , herpesviridae , reed–sternberg cell , virus , virology , microbiology and biotechnology , lymphoma , viral disease , immunology , medicine , gene , messenger rna , hodgkin lymphoma , genetics
Several lines of evidence have pointed to the involvement of a viral agent in the pathogenesis of Hodgkin's disease (HD). Therefore we investigated the presence of human herpesvirus type 7 (HHV‐7) in 53 cases of HD by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry. HHV‐7 DNA was frequently detected (68% of the cases) in HD biopsies by PCR independently of the histological type, whereas only 32% ( P < 0.05) of positive cases were found in 19 reactive lymph nodes. However, by applying the quantitative PCR technique, the majority of the samples showed a low level of viral load. Moreover, ISH for HHV‐7 DNA was positive in a low number of small T lymphocytes and consistently negative in Hodgkin and Reed‐Sternberg (HRS) cells, which appeared negative for HHV‐7 also at immunohistochemistry. These results indicate that the high frequency of HHV‐7 infection in HD: (i) is probably non‐productive, (ii) mainly involves small lymphocytes belonging to the T‐lineage, and (iii) is probably due to the recruitment of non‐malignant reactive cells in HD tissue.