Expression of Epstein-Barr virus in Hodgkin lymphoma Specimens in IRAN

The Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV(is related with various diseases including infectious mononucleosis، Burkitt''s lymphoma، Hodgkin''s lymphoma، nasopharyngeal carcinoma and post-transplant lymphoprolifrative disorders. The aim of this study was to characterize the association between EBV and Hodgkin''s lymphoma through EBERs in situ hybridization (EBER-ISH) in Iranian patients. In this study، 43 Hodgkin''s lymphoma tissue samples were selected from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded blocks and analyzed by EBERs in situ hybridization. Data analyzed by SPSS16 statistical software، Fisher''s exact test and Mantel-Haensel significant level 0. 05. 43 Hodgkin''s lymphoma patients were 29 (67%) male samples and 14 (33%) female samples. In 20 (47%) samples Epstein-Barr virus was present. The positive cases included 13 samples male and 7 samples female. Fisher''s exact test showed statistically no significant difference between sex and subtypes. Age distribution of relation of Hodgkin''s lymphoma and EBV virus were 75% (12 of 16) in the age group of 1-14 years، 22% (5 of 23) in the age group 15-49 years and 75% (3 of 4) in the age group over 49 years، respectively. Fisher''s exact test showed statistically significant difference between 1-14 and 15-49 age group years (p-value: 0. 003). Results shown higher presence rate of Epstein-Barr virus in Hodgkin''s lymphoma specimens of children and older adult. This pattern is similar to other developing countries.