Spectrum of Epstein-Barr virus-related diseases: a pictorial review

Abstract

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) prevails among more than 90% of the adult population worldwide. Most primary infections occur during young childhood and cause no or only nonspecific symptoms; then the virus becomes latent and resides in lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. Inactive latent EBV usually causes no serious consequences, but once it becomes active it can cause a wide spectrum of malignancies: epithelial tumors such as nasopharyngeal and gastric carcinomas; mesenchymal tumors such as follicular dendritic cell tumor/sarcoma; and lymphoid malignancies such as Burkitt lymphoma, lymphomatoid granulomatosis, pyothorax-associated lymphoma, immunodeficiency-associated lymphoproliferative disorders, extranodal natural killer (NK) cell/T-cell lymphoma, and Hodgkin's lymphoma. The purpose of this article is to describe the spectrum of EBV-related diseases and their key imaging findings. EBV-related lymphoproliferative disorders and lymphomas are especially common in immunocompromised patients. Awareness of their clinical settings and imaging spectrum contributes to early detection and early treatment of possibly life-threatening disorders.

Constitutive Interferon-Inducible Protein 16-Inflammasome Activation during Epstein-Barr Virus Latency I, II, and III in B and Epithelial Cells

“…Human B lymphocytes and epithelial cells are two major targets of EBV although it can also infect a variety of cell types, such as T cells, NK cells, smooth muscle cells, and follicular dendritic cells (1)(2)(3). EBV is etiologically associated with a number of human diseases which include (i) benign self-limiting lymphoproliferative infectious mononucleosis, (ii) B-cell lymphoproliferative Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (HLs), posttransplant lympho-proliferative disorders (PTLD), (iii) nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and some forms of gastric carcinoma (1).…”

Eight-color immunophenotyping of T-, B-, and NK-cell subpopulations for characterization of chronic immunodeficiencies

“…Besides primary immunodeficiencies, a dysfunction of lymphocyte subpopulations may also be induced by therapy or can be associated with different viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), or Ebstein Barr virus (EBV) (10)(11)(12)(13).…”

Epstein‐Barr virus‐induced polyclonal lymphoproliferative disorder of lymphoplasmacytic type in an autopsy case of aplastic anemia treated twice with anti‐thymocyte globulin therapy

“…Focal co-expression of LMP-1 and EBNA2 strongly suggested the latency level III of EBV infection. 2,3 The lymphoplasmacytic cells were immunoreactive for both kappa and lambda chains and for three heavy chains such as IgG > IgA > > IgM. Polyclonality was further confirmed by the clonal analysis of immunoglobulin heavy chain.…”