Epstein-Barr virus and Hodgkin's disease. A correlative in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction study.

The authors studied typical Hodgkin's disease along with the nodular, lymphocyte predominance subtype by both the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in situ hybridization for evidence of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). By PCR, EBV DNA was detected in 12/23 cases of typical Hodgkin's disease and 2/13 cases of the nodular, lymphocyte predominance subtype. EBV RNA was detected by in situ hybridization studies within Reed-Sternberg cells and variants in 11/23 cases of typical Hodgkin's disease and 0/13 cases of nodular, lymphocyte predominance Hodgkin's disease. Other cells positive for EBV, identified as both B and T cells in double-labeling immunohistochemical/in situ hybridization studies, were found in 20/23 cases of typical Hodgkin's disease, 9/13 cases of nodular, lymphocyte predominance Hodgkin's disease, 4/6 cases of progressive transformation of germinal centers, and 7/10 normal lymphoid tissues. It is concluded that EBV is significantly associated with Reed-Sternberg cells in approximately one-half cases of typical Hodgkin's disease but not in the nodular, lymphocyte predominance subtype. EBV-infected B and T cells are also present in a majority of cases of Hodgkin's disease as well as in reactive conditions.