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Documentation of Epstein-Barr Virus Infection in Immunodeficient Patients with Life-threatening Lymphoproliferative Diseases by Epstein-Barr Virus Complementary RNA/DNA and Viral DNA/DNA Hybridization¹

Department of Tumor Biology, Karolinska Institute, 104 01 Stockholm 60, Sweden [A. K. S., A-C. S., G. K.]; Department of Pathology, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605 [D. T. P., K. S., J. L. S.]; Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota Hospitals, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 [D. H., R. S.]; Department of Medical Chemistry, University of Göteborg, 400 33 Göteborg, Sweden [M. A.]; and Department of Pathology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37232 [R. C.]

Tissues from patients thought to have Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-induced lymphoproliferative diseases were probed for EBV genomes using 2 independent hybridization techniques. Tissues from six patients with the X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome, all five renal allograft recipients with immunoblastic sarcoma, and eight patients with diverse types of immunodeficiency and lymphoproliferative diseases such as fatal infectious mononucleosis or malignant lymphoma associated with antecedent immunodeficiency contained significant numbers of EBV genome equivalents per cell. The use of 2 hybridization probes is recommended to confirm the presence of EBV genomes. The finding of significant numbers of EBV genomes in tissues from patients with immunodeficiency suggests that EBV is the etiological agent of the associated lymphoproliferative diseases.

¹ Supported by NIH Grant CA23561, NIH Contract ICP 33316, and a grant from the Swedish Cancer Society.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed at Department of Tumor Biology, Karolinska Institute, 104 01 Stockholm 60, Sweden.

³ Recipient of a Fogarty Senior International Fellowship. Present address: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebr. 68105.

Received 11/20/80. Accepted 3/26/81.