Detecção do genoma do vírus de Epstein Barr (EBV) em tecidos de pacientes com doença de Hodgkin da região Norte do Brasil

Abstract

EBV is the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis and is associated with several malignant proliferative disorders such as Burkitt’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, some B and T cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. A total of 118 cases of lymphomas diagnosed between 1996 and 2005 were obtained from Instituto Ofir Loyola and analyzed at the Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ananindeua, Brazil. The main objective of the study was to assess the association of Hodgkin’s disease subtypes with sex, age, geographic origin and to determine the prevalence of EBER 1 gene and EBNA 1 gene in cases of Hodgkin´s disease. The EBV antigens using EBER 1 probe in situ hybridization (HIS) and real time quantitative PCR EBV DNA were detected in forty-nine and which were compared with HIS. From the total were obtained 61% (72/118) were male and 39% (46/118) female; patient age ranged from 3 to 98 years. Sixty-five (55%) were diagnosed as having Hodgkin´s disease and fifty-three (45%) were non- Hodgkin´s malignant lymphomas. EBV was identified in the Reed-Sternberg cells and variants in 77% (50/65) of Hodgkin´s disease cases, the median age were 28.3 years (range, 2-84). The histologic subtypes of EBV-positive cases were as follows: nodular sclerosis in 50% (25/50), mixed cellularity in 28% (14/50), lymphocyte depletion in 14% (7/50) and lymphocyte predominance in 8% (4/50). We detected EBV DNA in 53% (26/49) with a coefficient of regression for the standard curve of a minimum of 0.99. These results were the first demonstration of the role of Epstein Barr virus in cases of Hodgkin diseases in northern Brazil and are consistent with the hypothesis that the presence of EBV during neoplasic transformation could be are additional cofactor acting together with both genetic predisposition and immunity of the patient. Further and broader studies are needed in the Amazon region to clarify the relationship between EBV and Hodgkin´s disease.