Kuljić-Kapulica N
Institute of Microbiology, Military Medical Academy, Belgrade.
Srp Arh Celok Lek. 1998 Mar-Apr;126(3-4):97-100.
Some studies of Hodgkin's disease support the concept that the disease may be due, directly or indirectly, to a common infectious agent, an infection acquired in late rather than early childhood being associated with an increased risk of oncogenesis. The Epstein-Barr virus is the leading candidate as one of these causative agents, because of its oncogenic properties in the laboratory and its association with two human malignancies, African Burkitt lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
We studied 49 patients with Hodgkin's disease. The patients were grouped according to the histologic type, clinical symptoms and immune state. The control group of 140 subjects was selected among healthy people. The antibodies against viral capsid antigen were measured with immunoperoxidase test, antibodies to nuclear antigen with anticomplement immunofluorescent test, and antibodies to early antigen with immunofluorescence method.
We found that all patients had antibodies against viral capsid antigen and nuclear antigen. We found an elevated titers for viral capsid antigen in 69% of patients, early antigen in 41% and nuclear antigen in 55% of patients. The incidence of elevated titers (> or = 320 for viral capsid antigen and > or = 40 for early antigen) and nuclear antigen was higher in patients than in control group; the differences were statistically significant. Also, the geometric mean of early viral capsid and of nuclear antibody titers in patients were significantly higher than that in control group (p < 0.01).
The possible role of Epstein-Barr virus in Hodgkin's disease has been long investigated in epidemiological studies and the finding of Epstein-Barr antibody has been currently supported by the detection of genomic Epstein-Barr virus in diagnostic cells in some cases of Hodgkin's disease. Hodgkin's disease varies in prevalence, morphologic findings and association with Epstein-Barr virus in different parts of the world. Hodgkin's disease in Yugoslavia and its relationship to Epstein-Barr virus has not yet been studied. In conclusion, our results indicate that elevated titers of antibody against antigens associated with Epstein-Barr virus exist in patients with Hodgkin's disease. Whether this finding reflects a direct role of Epstein-Barr virus or whether this activity is a marker of the effect of a more fundamental factor, is not yet clear.
一些关于霍奇金病的研究支持这样一种观点，即该疾病可能直接或间接地归因于一种常见的传染因子，儿童晚期而非早期获得的感染与肿瘤发生风险增加相关。爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒是这些致病因子之一的主要候选者，因为它在实验室中具有致癌特性，且与两种人类恶性肿瘤——非洲伯基特淋巴瘤和鼻咽癌有关。
我们研究了49例霍奇金病患者。根据组织学类型、临床症状和免疫状态对患者进行分组。在健康人群中选取了140名受试者作为对照组。用免疫过氧化物酶试验检测抗病毒衣壳抗原的抗体，用抗补体免疫荧光试验检测抗核抗原的抗体，用免疫荧光法检测抗早期抗原的抗体。
我们发现所有患者都有抗病毒衣壳抗原和抗核抗原的抗体。我们发现69%的患者病毒衣壳抗原滴度升高，41%的患者早期抗原滴度升高，55%的患者核抗原滴度升高。患者中抗体滴度升高（病毒衣壳抗原≥320，早期抗原≥40）和核抗原的发生率高于对照组；差异具有统计学意义。此外，患者中病毒衣壳早期和核抗体滴度的几何平均值显著高于对照组（p<0.01）。
爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒在霍奇金病中的可能作用在流行病学研究中已被长期研究，并且在一些霍奇金病病例的诊断细胞中检测到基因组爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒，目前这一发现支持了爱泼斯坦-巴尔抗体的存在。霍奇金病在世界不同地区的患病率、形态学表现以及与爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒的关联各不相同。南斯拉夫的霍奇金病及其与爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒的关系尚未得到研究。总之，我们的结果表明霍奇金病患者中存在与爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒相关抗原的抗体滴度升高。这一发现是反映爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒的直接作用，还是这种活性是更基本因素作用的一个标志，目前尚不清楚。
