Whole blood EBV-DNA: A surrogate for immune dysfunction in aggressive lymphoma?

Utility of Epstein-Barr Viral Load in Blood for Diagnosis and Predicting Prognosis of Lymphoma: A Comparison with Epstein-Barr Virus-Encoded RNA in Situ Hybridization

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous pathogen that persists in a small portion of B cells after primary infection and is etiologically associated with multiple lymphoma subtypes. Herein, we evaluated the clinical utility of EBV real-time quantitative PCR in comparison with the widely used Epstein-Barr virus-encoded RNA (EBER) in situ hybridization (ISH) method in 912 patients with four lymphoma subtypes: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTCL), peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), and Hodgkin lymphoma. We also assessed the impact of EBV positivity determined from each method or a combination of both methods on mortality using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression. EBV real-time quantitative PCR identified more positive cases than EBER-ISH for all subtypes, except ENKTCL. EBV DNA-positive patients with ENKTCL and PTCL displayed poorer overall survival (OS) than EBV DNA-negative patients (P = 0.0016 and P = 0.0013, respectively). In addition, among those with EBER-positive DLBCL and ENKTL and those with EBER-negative PTCL, OS was significantly worse for EBV DNA-positive patients (P = 0.027, P = 0.0016, and P = 0.0018, respectively). EBER positivity was associated with worse OS for DLBCL (P = 0.037), in reanalyses including only the 862 patients with unambiguous EBER-ISH results. Overall, EBV DNA positivity is a more effective prognostic marker than EBER-ISH status for patients with certain lymphoma subtypes.

Determination of Epstein-Barr Virus-Infected Lymphocyte Cell Types in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells as a Valuable Diagnostic Tool in Hematological Diseases

Background

High loads of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) can be indicative of a broad spectrum of diseases, ranging from asymptomatic infection to fatal cancers.

Methods

We retrospectively investigated the EBV-infected cell types in PBMCs among 291 patients. Based on EBV-infected cell types, the clinical features and prognoses of 93 patients with EBV-associated (EBV⁺) T/natural killer (NK)–cell lymphoproliferative diseases (LPDs) T/NK-LPDs) were investigated over a 5-year period.

Results

Although B-cell-type infection was found in immunocompromised patients and patients with asymptomatic high EBV carriage, infectious mononucleosis, EBV⁺ B-cell LPDs and B-cell lymphomas, T-cell, NK-cell or multiple-cell-type infection in immunocompetent hosts were highly suggestive of EBV⁺ T/NK-LPDs, EBV⁺ T/NK-cell lymphomas, and aggressive NK-cell leukemia. Patients with non–B-cell infection had a poorer prognosis than those with B-cell-type infection. In our cohort, 79.6% of patients with EBV⁺ T/NK-LPDs were >18 years old, and NK cells were identified as EBV-infected cell type in 54.8%. Nearly half of patients with EBV⁺ T/NK-LPDs had genetic defects associated with immunodeficiency. However, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, and not genetic defects, was the only parameter correlated with poor prognosis of EBV⁺ T/NK-LPDs.

Conclusions

Determination of EBV-infected cell types among PBMCs is a valuable tool for the differential diagnosis of EBV⁺ hematological diseases.

In this study, determination of Epstein-Barr virus-infected cell types in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 291 patients with high Epstein-Barr virus loads were retrospectively investigated, which indicate it is a valuable tool for Epstein-Barr virus-associated hematological diseases.

Persistent peripheral blood EBV-DNA positive with high expression of PD-L1 and upregulation of CD4 + CD25 + T cell ratio in early stage NK/T cell lymphoma patients may predict worse outcome

Although gemcitabine, oxaliplatin and L-asparaginase/pegylated asparaginase (P-GEMOX) treatment for early-stage extranodal natural killer/T cell lymphoma (ENKTL) is effective, some patients die within 1 year of diagnosis. We attempted to determine an optimal biomarker for identifying such patients. We enrolled 71 patients with ENKTL who received P-GEMOX between January 2011 and January 2014. We classified the patients according to the outcome into worse (died within 1 year) or better groups (survival time ≥ 3, 4 or 5 years). The area under the curve (AUC) was determined to identify the optimal biomarker for differentiating the groups. The AUC was highest in patients who were plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA-positive post-treatment. The AUC was 0.82, 0.86 and 0.86 when the worse group was compared to the better group, respectively. Among the post-treatment EBV DNA-positive patients, as compared to EBV DNA-negative patients, pre-treatment EBV DNA-positive patients had a higher proportion of CD4 + CD25 + T cells. There was higher programmed cell death protein ligand-1(PD-L1) expression in post-treatment EBV DNA-positive patients. Post-treatment positive EBV DNA status maybe a useful biomarker of worse outcomes in early stage ENKTL.

The clinical significance of EBV DNA in the plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with or without EBV diseases

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous virus that establishes a latent infection within the host and in some cases can lead to the development of EBV-associated lymphomas, lymphoproliferative disorders, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, solid tumors, and other diseases. We studied the clinical significance of detecting EBV DNA in the plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 2146 patients who had blood specimens sent to the Johns Hopkins Hospital clinical laboratory for viral quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay over a 5-year period. Within this largely immunocompromised and hospitalized cohort, 535 patients (25%) had EBV detected in plasma or PBMCs. When EBV was detected in the absence of an EBV(+)disease (n = 402), it was present only in PBMCs in 69% of cases. Immunocompromised patients were less likely to have EBV in plasma than in PBMCs in the absence of EBV(+)disease. In patients with active, systemic EBV(+)diseases (n = 105), EBV was detected in plasma in 99% of cases but detected in PBMCs in only 54%. Across a range of copy number cutoffs, EBV in plasma had higher specificity and sensitivity for EBV(+)disease as compared with EBV in PBMCs. EBV copy number in plasma distinguished untreated, EBV(+)lymphoma from EBV(+)lymphoma in remission and EBV(-)lymphoma, and also distinguished untreated, EBV(+)posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) from EBV(+)PTLD in remission and EBV(-)PTLD. EBV copy number quantification is a useful diagnostic marker across the spectrum of EBV(+)diseases, even among immunocompromised patients, with plasma specimens more indicative of EBV(+)disease than PBMCs.