Prevalence of Epstein-Barr Virus Latent Membrane Protein-1 in Jordanian Patients with Hodgkin?s Lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma

Abstract: The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of EBV infection in Hodgkin?s lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma (NHL) occurring in Jordanian patients. A total of 55 patients with lymphoma were examined. The diagnosis was confirmed by staining the slides of these cases with hematoxylin and eosin. The presence of EBV was detected by immunostating for expression of latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1). Of 55 patients, 30 and 25 were diagnosed as HL and NHL, respectively. The majority of the HL cases exhibited mixed cellularity (MC) subtype. The high grade was found to be the commonest subtype of NHL. The frequency of LMP-1 expression occurred more frequent in patients with HL (60.0%) than in patients with NHL (32.0%). The frequency of LMP-1 expression was higher in patients with MC subtype (61.11%) than in patients with NS (28.57%). No age or gender difference in occurrence of EBV infection was observed among HL patients. By contrast, the frequency of LMP-1 expression in NHL patients aged below 50 was lower (16.66%) than in NHL patients aged 50 or above (46.15%). In addition, EBV infection was more frequent in females with NHL (38.46%) than in male with NHL (25%). In NHL cases, the frequency of LMP-1 expression in intermediate grade (60.0%) was high compared to low (37.5%) or high grades (16.7%). Therefore, analysis of LMP-1 expression suggests an important role for this viral oncogene in the pathogenesis of EBV-associated malignant lymphomas. These data support the previous findings that people with EBV may develop lymphoma and that efforts to maintain low lymphoma should be considered for people with EBV infection.