Epstein‐Barr virus infection and its role in the expanding spectrum of human diseases

Abstract

Recent advances of the various laboratory tests to detect Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) infection have clarified the causative role for a spectrum of EBV‐associated diseases. They include lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD), which occur in immunologically compromised individuals, Hodgkin's disease (HD), chronic active EBV infection (CAEBV), virus‐associated hemophagocytic syndrome (VAHS), certain forms of T cell lymphoma, and some gastric carcinomas, in addition to the classical EBV‐associated diseases such as EBV genome‐positive Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and infectious mononucleosis (IM). This review intends to introduce the recent progress of studies on EBV infection mainly from the clinical points of view.

Generalized myositis mimicking polymyositis associated with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection

“…Myocarditis is known in relation to CAEBV, and EBV has been detected in the infiltrating lymphocytes in myocardium [8,18,21,26]. However, there have been few reports of skeletal muscle disease in CAEBV.…”

“…■ Key words Epstein-Barr virus · polymyositis · myopathies · orbital · infectious diseases T or natural killer (NK) cells, which leads to the development of aggressive lymphoproliferative diseases (LPDS) [8,18,21,23,26]. CAEBV triggers or complicates many extranodal inflammatory or malignant diseases [8,18,21,23,26], but skeletal muscle involvement is rare, and polymyositis or generalized myositis like polymyositis is also rare in CAEBV.…”

“…CAEBV triggers or complicates many extranodal inflammatory or malignant diseases [8,18,21,23,26], but skeletal muscle involvement is rare, and polymyositis or generalized myositis like polymyositis is also rare in CAEBV.…”

Analysis of prognostic factors and comparison of prognostic scores in peripheral T cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified: a single-institution study of 105 Chinese patients

“…Until 2004, serum Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral capsid antigen (VCA)-IgA was assessed as an implication for recent virus infection [9] or reactivation [10,11] (37 patients), as reported in our previous study [12]. After 2004, the serological detection of EBV early antigen (EA)-IgG was applied for the same purpose [11,13] (64 patients).…”

Epstein-Barr Virus Infections

“…4,5 As discussed further, the clinical expression of EBV infections is extraordinarily variable. 6,7 This variability is dictated by genetically controlled host responses that induce the clinical illness. It is also dependent on the presence or absence of appropriate 'restraint' of the active response.…”