Immunohistochemical Detection of Epstein-Barr virus (LMP-1) among Non Hodgkin Lymphomas Patients in Sudan

Abstract

The presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma can be identified by immunohistochemistry for detection of EBV latent membrane protein (LMP). The role of EBV as an etiologic agent in the development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma has been supported by detection of high levels of latent membrane protein 1 (LMP-1) expression in tumors. The objective of our study was to determine a value for non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients using EBV LMP-1 immunostaining in Sudan. This study was carried at the Radio Isotope Center Khartoum (RICK)-Khartoum state –Sudan from January 2014 to July 2015. It was a cross sectional study.A total of 59 patients who were diagnosed with various subtypes of NHL after histological and EBV LMP-1 immunohistochemical evaluation were studied. Sampling technique was non-probability purposive. Statistical analysis was achieved using SPSS version 11.5. Mean and SD were calculated for quantitative variables like patient age. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for qualitative variables like subgroup of NHL, results outcome of IHC for EBV and gender distribution, for quantitative data Chi - test and correlation were used for qualitative data (significance level were set at P≤ 0.05). A total of 41 (69.4%) were male and 18 (30.6%) were female. LMP-1 immunohistochemical marker was positive in (30.5%) (18/59) cases in all Non Hodgkin`s lymphoma. The expression of LMP-1 among NHL subtypes as follow; (36.8%) (7/19) of diffuse large B cell lymphoma, (80%) (8/10) cases of Burkitt lymphoma, one out of two (50%) positive cases of follicular lymphoma, (7.1%) (1/14) cases of small lymphocytic lymphoma and no expression of EBV LMP-1 antibody were reported in mantle cell lymphoma. In our study, frequency of EBV in NHL is 30.5% and is mostly seen in Burkitt lymphoma and diffuse large B cell lymphoma. This requires further evaluation to find out whether this positivity is due to co-infection or has a role in pathogenesis. Keywords: Epstein, Barr virus, NHL, Immunohistochemistry and Latent membrane protein 1.