Epidemiology of Epstein-Barr virus-associated pediatric lymphomas from Argentina

Paola Chabay; María Victoria Preciado

doi:10.1016/j.bmhimx.2015.12.002

Epidemiology of Epstein-Barr virus-associated pediatric lymphomas from Argentina

Bol Med Hosp Infant Mex. 2016 Jan-Feb;73(1):47-54. doi: 10.1016/j.bmhimx.2015.12.002. Epub 2016 Jan 9.

Authors

Paola Chabay¹, María Victoria Preciado²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratorio de Biología Molecular, División Patología, Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutiérrez, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigación en Patologías Pediátricas (IMIPP), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas-Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (CONICET-GCBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: paola_chabay@yahoo.com.ar.
² Laboratorio de Biología Molecular, División Patología, Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutiérrez, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigación en Patologías Pediátricas (IMIPP), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas-Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (CONICET-GCBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina.

PMID: 29421233
DOI: 10.1016/j.bmhimx.2015.12.002

Abstract

More than 90% of the population is infected by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which has sophisticatedly evolved to survive silently in B cells for the life of infected individuals. However, if the virus-host balance is disturbed, latent EBV infection could be associated with several lymphomas. The age at primary infection varies substantially worldwide, and exposure to EBV is likely to be due to socioeconomic factors. In Argentina, EBV infection is mostly subclinical and 90% of patients are seropositive by the age of 3 years; therefore, its epidemiological characteristics resemble those of an underdeveloped or developing population. EBV-positive Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) in young adults from developed populations has been attributed to delayed primary EBV infection as suggested by the association with recent mononucleosis development. EBV-associated Burkitt lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma in children from Argentina display frequencies similar to those observed in developed countries, whereas EBV presence in pediatric diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is slightly increased compared to those populations. However, EBV presence is statistically associated particularly with patients < 10 years of age in all three entities. Therefore, a relationship between low age of EBV seroconversion and B-cell lymphoma development risk could be suggested in children from Argentina.

Keywords: Burkitt lymphoma; Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; Epstein-Barr virus; Hodgkin lymphoma; Linfoma de Burkitt; Linfoma de Hodgkin; Linfoma difuso de células B; Linfoma pediátrico; Pediatric lymphoma; Virus de Epstein-Barr.