Gunvén P
Biochim Biophys Acta. 1975 Dec 31;417(3-4):187-210. doi: 10.1016/0304-419x(75)90010-4.
Burkitt's lymphoma occurs mainly in parts of tropical Africa and has attracted the attention of experimental workers due to its epidemiological and clinical features, which indicate a viral etiology and a host immune response to the tumor. As a result of virological studies, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA has been demonstrated in almost all tested biopsies of African BL. This contrasts to the absence of EBV in all, or almost all, of the non-African Burkitt's lymphoma-like tumors, even though the number of tested tumors in this group is small, and to the lack of EBV in all other types of lymphoma or leukemia. Immunological studies have revealed the presence of antibodies to different EBV-associated antigens in all African patients with Burkitt's lymphoma. However the antibodies are not specific for Burkitt's lymphoma but are found in most adults all over the world, although at lower levels. They cannot therefore serve diagnostic purposes, but they can give prognostic information and occasionally give clues to the mechanisms behind late tumor recurrences, and possibly guide so-called immunotherapy. Burkitt's lymphoma patients contrast to appropriate control groups where some of the persons are anti-EBV seronegative, and this, together with the presence of EBV in Burkitt's lymphoma biopsies and the absence of EBV in other lymphomas, even though the cell type involved may be infectable by EBV in vitro and the tumor may arise in an EBV-carrying person, favors an etiological role in EBV in Burkitt's lymphoma and speaks against the "passenger" hypothesis, according to which EBV is picked up by the Burkitt's lymphoma cell which happens to be particularly suitable for EBV persistence. To explain the geographical distribution, a cofactor, such as certain forms of malaria, has been implied.
伯基特淋巴瘤主要发生在非洲热带地区，因其流行病学和临床特征吸引了实验研究人员的关注，这些特征表明其病因与病毒有关，且存在宿主对肿瘤的免疫反应。病毒学研究结果显示，在几乎所有检测的非洲伯基特淋巴瘤活检样本中都发现了爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）DNA。这与所有或几乎所有非非洲伯基特淋巴瘤样肿瘤中未检测到EBV形成对比，尽管该组检测的肿瘤数量较少，同时也与所有其他类型的淋巴瘤或白血病中缺乏EBV形成对比。免疫学研究表明，所有非洲伯基特淋巴瘤患者体内都存在针对不同EBV相关抗原的抗体。然而，这些抗体并非伯基特淋巴瘤所特有，在全世界大多数成年人中都能检测到，只是水平较低。因此，它们不能用于诊断，但可以提供预后信息，偶尔还能为肿瘤晚期复发背后的机制提供线索，并可能指导所谓的免疫治疗。与合适的对照组相比，伯基特淋巴瘤患者中有些人抗EBV血清学呈阴性，再加上伯基特淋巴瘤活检样本中存在EBV而其他淋巴瘤中不存在EBV，尽管所涉及的细胞类型在体外可能可被EBV感染，且肿瘤可能发生在携带EBV的个体中，但这支持了EBV在伯基特淋巴瘤中的病因学作用，反对“过客病毒”假说，根据该假说，EBV是被恰好特别适合其持续存在的伯基特淋巴瘤细胞所携带。为了解释其地理分布，有人提出了诸如某些形式的疟疾等辅助因素。
