Expression of the latent membrane protein of Epstein-Barr virus in Hodgkin's disease. Age and subtype distribution in Polish patients.

We examined immunohistochemically 135 cases of HD (4, lymphocytic predominance (LP); 34, mixed cellularity (MC); 90, nodular sclerosis (NS) and 7, lymphocytic depletion (LD) for the presence of EBV latent membrane protein (LMP). Ten patients were younger than 14 years, 55 were young adults (15-34 years), 45 were 35-49-years old and 26 were older than 50 years. The average LMP-immunopositivity was 33% of all HD cases. The highest proportion of LMP-immunopositivity was found in the MC subtype (61.8%), followed by the NS (NS 1-25%, NS 2-26%) and the LD subtype (14%), but none in the LP subtype of HD. The differences between LMP-immunopositivity in the MC and NS subtypes were statistically significant in children and young adults (p < 0,01). The LMP-positivity was mainly associated with the MC subtype which occurred predominantly in children, while the lowest proportion of LMP-positive cases was found in the young adult group. This report supports a notion that there are regularities in age and subtype distribution of EBV in HD.