Immunological aspects of infections part 37

Immunosuppresive therapy may result in EBV reactivation, and about 1 to 10 percent of certain transplants may be complicated by EBV-induced limphoproliferative disease. Similar results are also seen in patients infected with the HIV virus. One of the most interesting effects of EBV infection and transformation has been the occurence of Burkitt's lymphoma. It is endemic in certain African countries (especially in regions of mosquito-borne disease), where it represent 90% of childhood cancers in contrast to 3% in developed countries. The link between EBV and Burkitt's lymphoma was established  when it was found  that EBV antigens and genome were present in the tumor cells. Since the incidence of Burkitt's lymphoma follows the same belt as the chronic malaria belt of the region., it has been suggested that the chronic malaria of these children induces EBV-infected lympgoproliferation, leading  to chromosomal translocation in the long arms of chromosomes 8 and 14 and eventually to the activation and translocation of the c-myc oncogene to the active region of the cellular genome.