[Demonstration of Epstein-Barr virus DNA and determination of immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor gene rearrangerments in diagnostic lymph node biopsies from patients with Hodgkin's disease].

Lymph node biopsies of 52 patients with Hodgkin's disease were analyzed by Southern blot hybridization for the presence of monoclonal rearrangements of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor genes. The same tissues were tested for Epstein-Barr virus DNA by the polymerase chain reaction using four different sets of primers. Monoclonal rearrangements were identified in only four tumors, whereas Epstein-Barr virus was present in 79% of biopsies. A correlation between the degree of infiltration by Reed-Sterberg cells, clonality and the presence of Epstein-Barr virus could not be found. These results are in agreement with similar studies reported in the literature. The nature of the malignant cell in Hodgkin's disease and the role of Epstein-Barr virus in the etiology of this tumor remains to be established.