A monkey model for Epstein Barr virus-associated lymphomagenesis in human acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

High-grade malignant nonHodgkin's lymphomas--five lymphoblastic, three pleomorphic, and two immunoblastic--developed in 10/25 cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) followed for up to 746 d after infection with simian immunodeficiency virus, strain SIVsm. These lymphomas were shown to be associated with an Epstein-Barr (EB)-like cynomolgus B-lymphotropic herpesvirus (CBLV) by electron microscopy, by Southern blot hybridization with probes against human EBV, and by the expression of antigens corresponding to EBV-associated nuclear antigens (EBNAs) involved in human B cells transformation. Southern blot demonstration of immunoglobulin gene rearrangements and homogeneous EBV episomes indicated that all the lymphomas were CBLV-associated monoclonal B cell proliferations. Our findings suggest that these tumors correspond to the EBV-associated malignant lymphomas in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome with respect to clinical, morphological, phenotypic, and genotypic characteristics. The particular susceptibility of SIVsm immunodeficient cynomolgus monkeys for CBLV-associated lymphomagenesis appears therefore a useful model for EBV-associated lymphomas in humans.