Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma After Treatment of Hodgkin's Disease: Association with Epstein-Barr Virus

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Abstract
Non-Hodgkin''s lymphoma occurs infrequently as a late complication of obscure cause after treatment of Hodgkin''s disease. We investigated the possible role of Epstein-Barr virus in the pathogenesis of such secondary malignancies of B-cell lineage. Two patients, aged 25 and 43 years, developed high-grade non-Hodgkin''s lymphomas 12 and 8 years after radiation therapy for Hodgkin''s disease. Serologic profiles in these patients showed evidence of acute and past Epstein-Barr virus infections, respectively. Molecular hybridization analysis showed the presence of multiple cellular equivalents of virus genome in tumor specimens from each patient. Our findings suggest that Epstein-Barr virus may play an integral role in the pathogenesis of non-Hodgkin''s lymphoma of B-cell lineage that develops after treatment of Hodgkin''s disease.