Expression And Correlation Of Epstein-Barr Virus LMP-1, C-myc Proteins And β-catenin In Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Object: To evaluate the expression of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) encoded Latent membrane protein 1 (LMP-1) , c-myc oncogene protein products and -catenin in Wnt pathway, especially their possible correlation in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL). Methods: Ninty cases of Paraffin-Embedded tisuues with complete data in NHL were selected ,the expression of LMP-1, c-myc and -cat were detected by immunohisto-chemical staining . Twelve cases of lymphoproliferations (RH) were used as comparison. Results: Fourteen cases of NHL showed LMP-1 positive expression(15.5%), so did seventy-five cases in c-myc(83.3%), and nine cases in -cat(10.0%); Six cases of RH showed c-myc positive expression and there was no positive expression of LMP-1 and -cat. The positive rates of LMP-1, c-myc and -cat showed no significant difference among all the groups of NHL (p>0.05), while only positive rates of c-myc in NHL were significantly higher than RH(p=0.0319, p<0.05).The EBV infetion had obvious influence on the expression of c-myc proteins (x2=61.00, p<0.001) , so did the expression of c-myc proteins with -cat (x2=62.23, p<0.001); While the infections rates of EBV had no influence on the expression of -cat (p>0.05). Conclusion: The positive rates of LMP-1 and c-myc were both higher than those of RH cases,which suggested that the infection of EBV and activiation of c-myc proteins were both involved in the pathogenesis of NHL. The infection of EBV may transform the infected cells by immortalizing them and the expression of the virus encoded proteinsLMP-1 may activiate the expression of c-myc. As the target gene of Wnt pathway, c-myc proteins showed an significant influence on the expression of -cat, the correlation between c-myc and -cat showed that Wnt pathway had an close relationship with the pathogenesis of NHL. While LMP-1 and -cat had no correlation in the pathogenesis of NHL.