The prevalence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in patients with classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma (CHL) is geographically variable. In the present study the prevalence of EBV in CHL was assessed in adult patients from Ceará, Brazil. Thirty-seven cases were immunohistochemically evaluated for EBV using latent membrane protein (LMP1) antibody and for EBV latency-associated RNA (EBER1) using in situ hybridization (ISH). Sex and age did not differ among patients as to the frequency of CHL. Nodular sclerosis was the predominant histological subtype. LMP1 was found in Reed-Sternberg cells in 67.5% of the cases whereas ISH detected EBER1 in 75.6%. Regarding histological subtypes EBV infection rates were not found statistically different in nodular sclerosis (NS) and mixed cellularity (MC) subtypes (p = 0.66).
Classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma; Epstein-Barr virus; LMP1; EBER1
