논문검색
Author Jung Seon Seo1,2, Kyeong Hee Kang1, Jin-Hyoung Kang, M.D.3 and Suk Kyeong Lee, Ph.D.1,2
Place of duty 1Research Institute of Immunobiology, Catholic Research Institutes of Medical Science, 2Department of Biomedical Sciences, 3Division of Medical Oncology, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
Title Lack of Association between Epstein-Barr Virus and Epithelial Malignancies Developed after Kidney Transplantation
Publicationinfo Cancer Research and Treatment 2003 Oct; 035(05): 433-439.
Key_word Epstein-Barr virus, Kidney transplantation, Epithelial malignancy
Full-Text
Abstract Purpose: Organ transplant recipients are at high risk of developing malignancies due to immunosuppressive regimens. Unlike post-transplant lymphoproliferative diseases (PTLDs), where Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) plays an etiological role, there are conflicting data regarding the association of EBV with post-transplant epithelial malignancies. In order to clarify the role of EBV in carcinomas that develop after solid-organ transplantation, the presence of EBV infection in the carcinomas of post-kidney transplant patients was examined.

Materials and Methods: The presence of EBV infection in skin carcinoma (PTSC), gastric carcinoma (PTGC) and urothelial carcinoma (PTUC), which developed in the patients under an immune suppression regime following kidney transplantation, was examined. Tumors from the patients without organ transplantation were also used as a comparison in the study. The study group included five nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs), one Hodgkin's disease (HD), one B-cell non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma (NHL) and one hypopharynx (HPC) tumor.

Results: Immunofluorescence assay and Western blot analysis, using sera from the same patients, confirmed that all of the tested patients were previously infected with EBV. From in situ hybridization, no EBER positive cells were detected in any of the tumor tissues obtained from the three kidney transplant recipients (PTSC, PTGC and PTUC) or in the NHL and HPC tissues. In contrast, all five of the NPC and HD tissues showed strong EBER positivity.

Conclusion: These results suggest that there is a strong association of EBV with NPC and HD as previously reported, while no such strong association of EBV was found with epithelial malignancies that developed after kidney transplantation. (Cancer Research and Treatment 2003; 35:433⁣439)