Epstein-Barr virus and associated cutaneous lymphomas

Abstract

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection rate is very high in populations. It has been found that EBV is associated with many human diseases including an obviously heterogeneous group of cutaneous lymphomas, such as extranodal natural killer (NK) /T-cell lymphoma, hydroa vacciniforme-like lymphoma, Hodgkin′s lymphoma, Burkitt′s lymphoma, HIV-associated lymphoma and so on. EBV-associated cutaneous lymphomas have various clinical manifestations, a spectrum of histological changes with chronic or critical disease course and poor prognosis. Mechanisms of EBV-mediated oncogenesis are still unclear. By the interaction between functional molecules of EBV and the host, EBV can escape from cellular immunity in host, modulate multiple signaling pathways, promote tumor inflammation, induce blood vessel formation and gene mutations, and finally immortalize host cells. In clinic, high-risk population should be tracked and monitored, such as undernourished and immunocompromised persons, especially children, the elderly, organ transplant patients, and HIV-infected individuals, so as to early diagnose and interfere in EBV-associated cutaneous lymphomas. Key words: Herpesvirus 4, human; Skin; Lymphoma; Methods; Diagnosis