Screening for herpesvirus genomes in common acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

There is epidemiological evidence that infection may play a role in the etiology of childhood leukemia in particular common B cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A panel of 20 leukemic samples (panel 1) was examined for the presence of four lymphotropic herpesviruses using conventional molecular techniques. A second independent panel of 27 leukemic samples (panel 2), along with 28 control peripheral blood samples from children with other forms of cancer, was tested for the presence of the same four viruses using sensitive realtime quantitative PCR. While herpesvirus genomes were detected, they were present at very low levels; detection rates and levels were similar in the leukemic and control panels. In addition we surveyed 18 leukemic samples (five from panel 1, six from panel 2 and a further seven samples not previously analyzed) using a degenerate PCR assay capable of detecting the genomes of known herpesviruses plus putative new members of the family. No novel herpesvirus genomes were detected suggesting that a herpesvirus is unlikely to be etiologically involved as a transforming agent in common acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia (2001) 15, 415-421.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of human herpesviruses in chronic and acute B cell lymphocytic leukemia and in multiple myeloma

“…45 Finally, if one assumes that to be directly responsible for transformation, at least one copy of HHV per cell (ie a viral load Ն10 4 copies/100 ng DNA) is necessary, only two patients (1 B-CLL, 1 B-ALL, with respectively, 10 3 and 2.2 × 10 3 copies of EBV/100 ng DNA) approached this level. Therefore, our study confirms the conclusion of a previous study limited to childhood ALL 46 that, taken separately, none of the HHVs found in B-ALL and B-CLL is present at levels high enough to be held responsible for B cell transformation. This was the rationale for trying to identify a novel B cell tropic herpesvirus directly responsible for B cell transformation.…”

Adenovirus detection in Guthrie cards from paediatric leukaemia cases and controls

“…Representative difference analysis (RDA) has been used to screen for anonymous, non-human sequences in the genome of common ALL (cALL) samples and no foreign sequences were detected (Mackenzie et al, 2006). In addition, degenerate PCR screens have not implicated a higher frequency of infection in leukaemia cells than in blood cells from children without leukaemia (MacKenzie et al, 2001). These data seem to provide evidence against direct viral transformation.…”

Mannose-Binding Lectin Genotypes and Susceptibility to Epstein-Barr Virus Infection in Infancy

“…DNA was extracted from whole blood (500 l) from the samples collected in 2004 using QIAamp DNA blood minikits (Qiagen, Crawley, United Kingdom). All samples were assayed using a real-time quantitative TaqMan PCR based on the pol gene of EBV (17). Where sufficient material was available, the sample was assayed in duplicate (83.5% of samples).…”