TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gerhard‐Hartmann, Elena
A1  - Jöhrens, Korinna
A1  - Schinagl, Lisa‐Marie
A1  - Zamó, Alberto
A1  - Rosenwald, Andreas
A1  - Anagnostopoulos, Ioannis
A1  - Rosenfeldt, Mathias
T1  - Epstein–Barr virus infection patterns in nodular lymphocyte‐predominant Hodgkin lymphoma
JF  - Histopathology
N2  - Aims
To investigate Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) latency types in 19 cases of EBV‐positive nodular lymphocyte‐predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL), as such information is currently incomplete.
Methods and results
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) for CD20, CD79a, PAX5, OCT2, CD30, CD15, CD3 and programmed cell death protein 1 was performed. For EBV detection, in‐situ hybridisation (ISH) for EBV‐encoded RNA (EBER) was employed combined with IHC for EBV‐encoded latent membrane protein (LMP)‐1, EBV‐encoded nuclear antigen (EBNA)‐2, and EBV‐encoded BZLF1. In 95% of the cases, neoplastic cells with features of Hodgkin and Reed–Sternberg (HRS) cells were present, mostly showing expression of CD30. In all cases, the B‐cell phenotype was largely intact, and delineation from classic Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL) was further supported by myocyte enhancer factor 2B (MEF2B) detection. All tumour cells were EBER‐positive except in two cases. EBV latency type II was most frequent (89%) and type I was rare. Cases with latency type I were CD30‐negative. Five cases contained some BZLF1‐positive and/or EBNA‐2‐positive bystander lymphocytes.
Conclusions
As HRS morphology of neoplastic cells and CD30 expression are frequent features of EBV‐positive NLPHL, preservation of the B‐cell transcription programme, MEF2B expression combined with NLPHL‐typical architecture and background composition facilitate distinction from CHL. EBER ISH is the method of choice to identify these cases. The majority present with EBV latency type II, and only rare cases present with latency type I, which can be associated with missing CD30 expression. The presence of occasional bystander lymphocytes expressing BZLF1 and/or EBNA‐2 and the partial EBV infection of neoplastic cells in some cases could indicate that EBV is either not primarily involved or is only a transient driver in the pathogenesis of EBV‐positive NLPHL.
KW  - EBV
KW  - Hodgkin lymphoma
KW  - latency type
KW  - NLPHL
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-276327
VL  - 80
IS  - 7
SP  - 1071
EP  - 1080
ER  -