Analysis of Epstein-Barr virus-encoded small RNA 1 expression in benign lymphoepithelial salivary gland lesions

Salivary gland enlargement resulting from benign lymphoepithelial lesions may be seen in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and in the early stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Although the pathogenesis of these lesions is thought to differ in SS and HIV infection, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been suggested as a pathogenetic agent in both cases. We have assessed the presence of latent EBV infection in a series of 15 lymphoepithelial salivary gland lesions using RNA-RNA in situ hybridization with digoxigenin-labeled riboprobes complementary to the abundantly-expressed EBV-encoded small RNA 1 (EBER1). Two of four benign lymphoepithelial lesions (BLEL) from patients seropositive for HIV expressed EBER1 in lymphocyte nuclei in a fashion similar to that described previously in HIV-associated persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL). By contrast, EBER1 was not expressed in any of four BLEL from patients with SS, or seven lymphoepithelial cysts (LEC) and BLEL from patients with neither HIV infection nor SS. These data suggest that latent EBV infection does not play a major pathogenetic role in the lymphoepithelial salivary gland lesions associated with SS or those seen in patients without systemic disease. In the case of HIV-associated salivary gland lesions, the data are consistent with earlier proposals that these BLEL result from the involvement of intraparotid lymph nodes by PGL.