Frequency of epstein-barr virus in classical hodgkin Lymphoma

Epstein-Barr virus plays an important role in pathogenesis of Hodgkin lymphoma. The first patient with Epstein-Barr positive Reed Sternberg cells was described in 1985. Since then association between Epstein-Barr virus and Hodgkin lymphoma has been shown in many parts of the world and its occurrence shows significant variation from continent to continent and from country to country.

The study was carried out at department of histopathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology from 27th April 2013 to 10th March 2014. A total of 55 cases of classical Hodgkin lymphoma were included in the study.

Out of 55 patients, 38 (69%) were male and 17 (31%) were female. The age of the patients ranged between 4-67 years with an average age of 29.4±21.72 years. Out of these, 44 cases (80%) were positive for latent membrane protein-1. Among positive cases 32 (72.72%) were male and 12 (27.28%) were female. Based upon histological subtypes MCHL was the commonest as a whole accounting for 87.3% as well as among both genders. Out of total 55 cases, 79.16% (38/48) of mixed cellularity Hodgkin lymphoma cases showed positivity for latent membrane protein-1 while 83.33% (5/6) cases of nodular sclerosis Hodgkin lymphoma and 100% (1/1) cases of lymphocyte depleted Hodgkin lymphoma showed positivity. No case of lymphocyte predominant classical Hodgkin lymphoma was diagnosed during the study. 80% of our classical Hodgkin lymphoma cases showed association with EBV expression. A total of 79.16% cases of mixed cellularity Hodgkin lymphoma showed LMP1 expression while 100% of lymphocyte depleted Hodgkin lymphoma showed LMP1 expression.

The highest expression seen in lymphocyte depleted Hodgkin lymphoma subtype in contrast to mixed cellularity requires to be confirmed by a larger scale study comprising of substantial number of patients of lymphocyte depleted Hodgkin lymphoma and lymphocyte rich classical Hodgkin lymphoma.