Epsiein-Barr virus and progression of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to Ki-1-positive, anaplastic large cell phenotype

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs) including endemic Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease (HD), HIV-associated non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs), and LPDs arising in immunosuppressed transplant patients. More recently, EBV has been associated with Ki-1-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a recently described NHL that shares with HD expression of the CD30 antigen Ki-1. Because EBV has been shown to induce Ki-1 expression in vitro, and ALCL has been diagnosed in patients with prior or concurrent HD or NHL, it has been proposed that EBV may mediate progression of a 'primary' lymphoma to a 'secondary' ALCL. We report a case in which an AIDS-associated, Ki-1-negative, large cell immunoblastic lymphoma progressed to a Ki-1-positive ALCL. Analysis of the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus revealed a clonal relationship between these morphologically and immunophenotypically distinct tumors. Although EBV was absent from the original large-cell immunoblastic lymphoma as assessed by in situ hybridization for EBV-encoded small RNA1 (EBER1), polymerase chain reaction for EBNA-1, immunocytochemistry for latent membrane protein 1, and Southern blot hybridization for EBV terminal repeat sequences, all four techniques confirmed the presence of EBV in the secondary ALCL. Moreover, analysis of EBV terminal repeat sequences indicated that the ALCL resulted from expansion of a single EBV-infected clone. These data suggest that EBV may mediate progression of NHL to Ki-1-positive ALCL, and that in some instances, EBV may be involved in the later stages of clonal progression of NHL.