Abstract: Objective To investigate the association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection with certain forms of cutaneous lymphomas and analyze the subtypes of infected virus. Methods Clinical specimens were obtained from skin biopsies of 41 patients with EBV-associated cutaneous lymphomas and throat washing of 38 healthy adults. EBV positivity was established by detecting EBV-encoded small nuclear RNAs (EBERs) with in situ hybridization, and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The subtype of EBV was identified by nested PCR and Southern hybridization. Five cases were subjected to clonality analysis of EBV by determi ning the terminal repeats. Results EBV was identified in 8 of 9 patients with NK /T cell lymphoma, 4 of 9 with subcutaneous panniculitis T-cell lymphoma, 1 of 1 with NK/T cell lymphocytosis, 1 of 1 with angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy-l ike T-cell lymphoma, and 1 of 1 with histiocytoid lymphoma, as indicated by pos itive results of EBERs in situ hybridization and PCR amplifying EBV BMRF1 gene.No evidence of EBV latent infection was shown in cases of mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome. Subtype 1 virus was classified in all EBV positive samples. Dual infections with EBV sutypes 1 and 2 were found in a case of NK/T cell lymphocytosis. Meanwhile, EBV was detected in 14 of 38 specimens from throat washing of healthy individuals and subtype 1 was identified. Clonality analysis of EBV showed a single band in DNA hybridization which indicated that clonal proliferation of the neoplastic cells contained EBVs with identical terminal repeats. Conclusions EBV latent infection is associated with NK/T cell lymphomas and subcutanous T-cell lymphomas, but not related to mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome. EBV subtype 1 is prevalent in both lymphoma patients and healthy individuals. It i s suggested that monoclonal cellular proliferation occur after EBV infection, which supports an etiologic role of EBV in NK/T cell lymphoma.

Key words: Herpesvirus 4, human, Lymphoma