ABSTRACT
Introduction 116 Epstein-Barr virus biology 116 Aspects of Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus biology 118 Strain variation 118 Gammaherpesviruses-associated non-lymphoid 119
malignancies
Epstein-Barr virus-associated lymphoma 119 Lymphoma associated with Kaposi 120
sarcoma-associated herpesvirus Key points 121 References 121
Two herpesviruses (HHV) are associated with lymphoma and lymphoproliferative disease in man: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV, also referred to as HHV-8).1 Both were first identified in tumors, both establish latency in B cell reservoirs that are maintained for life, and both are present in saliva.2,3 Primary infection is commonly asymptomatic and most hosts do not develop tumors.4 Immunocompromise appears to be important for the pathogenesis of some but not all of the virus-associated tumors. These similarities notwithstanding, the viruses and their associated lymphoproliferative diseases are quite different: EBV is ubiquitous whereas KSHV shows striking variation in its prevalence among populations; and EBV is associated with many different lymphomas and lymphoproliferative diseases whereas KSHV is associated with only a few. This chapter begins with an overview of the viruses and their associations with malignancies and then focuses on consideration of their associations with lymphoma.
