Hodgkin’s lymphoma and its association with EBV and HIV infection

Abstract

Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) constitutes a clonal expansion of what appears to be malignant B cells. Viruses are involved in its pathogenesis, such as the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Since these viral infections have been shown to play key roles in the pathogenesis of HL, countries with a prevalence of HIV and EBV represent interesting population targets to study the pathogenesis of HL, linking the evolution of the disease with viral infections. Usually, patients present with late stage disease often involving the bone marrow at the time of diagnosis. The present paper discusses the role of viral infection in African countries, as HL is considered to be a malignant disease characterized by an inflammatory reaction to an aberrant B cell clone that is well known as the Reed–Sternberg cell (HRS).

Keywords:

• Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• pathology diagnosis
• HIV and EBV infections

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Ciprian Tomuleasa received funding from the Romanian Research Ministry, contracts PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-1783 (awarded to Young Research Teams) and CNFIS-FDI-2017-1350 (awarded to Institutional development funds), as well as from an International Collaboration Grant between Romania and P.R. China, contract 57 BM/2016.