Abstract

Background/Aims—Primary central nervous system large B cell lymphomas (PCNSLs) are frequently associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in patients with AIDS and less frequently in those without AIDS. Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) has been detected in these tumours by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at low copy number, suggesting its presence in a cell compartment other than the malignant one. The aim of this study was to use immunohistochemistry to assess HHV-8 infection in a series of PCNSLs from patients with and without AIDS.

Methods—The antibody LN53, which reacts with the latent nuclear antigen 1 (LNA1) of HHV-8, was used on tissue sections from 35 patients (17 with and 18 without AIDS) with PCNSL. In addition, DNA was available for PCR (open reading frame 26 (ORF 26), ORF 72, ORF 75) in three patients (two without AIDS, one with AIDS).

Results—None of the 35 cases contained either DNA sequences or LNA1 positive cells.

Conclusions—These results confirm the lack of HHV-8 infection in tumour cells of PCNSL. In addition, HHV-8 infected bystander cells do not express LNA1 latent protein in this setting.