Expression of Epstein-Barr virus in Langerhans? cell histiocytosis*1

Langerhans cell histiocytosis and its relationship with Epstein-Barr virus

“…To The Editor, This is in response to the comments by Schenka et al [1]. Previously, we reported prominent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) expression in Japanese children, showing dual expression of CD1a and EBV transcript in neoplastic cells [2].…”

“…Interestingly, this suggests EBV's role in LCH and hemophagocytic syndrome processes [5]. Schenka et al [1] described that EBV was absent in Langerhans cells in 117 biopsy specimens from South American patients. When one intends to show signal absence, one must use various highly sensitive methods.…”

“…In this study, polymerase chain reaction failed to confirm the presence of viral genome, leading to the conclusion that EBV was not involved in the pathogenesis of LCH. More recently, however, Shimakage et al [1] reported a high frequency of EBV among LCH cases (100%), using in situ hybridization to unravel the expression of lytic (ZEBRA) and latent (EBER, EBNA2, and LMP1) genes. In the present study, we investigated primarily the expression of the latent genes LMP1 and EBER, but we failed to detect EBV within neoplastic cells, in all samples.…”

Langerhans cell histiocytosis

“…However, in one of these studies a comparison of the presence or quantity of HHV-6 between LCH and normal did not reveal significant differences between the two groups [31]. Similar comments can be applied to the report of Epstein-Barr viral proteins and DNA that were detected in 17 LCH biopsies [31].…”

Cell proliferation and differentiation in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP)

“…1,2 Previously, Odze carried out a similar study using the Ki 67-asociated Mib-1 antibody. 3 We found that the cell proliferation was higher in the FAP patients than in the non-FAP patients.…”