AIDS-RELATED B-CELL NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMAS IN DIRECT BLOOD-STREAM HIV-INFECTED PATIENTS - PATHOGENESIS AND DIFFERENTIATION FEATURES

Six AIDS‐related NHLs from direct blood‐stream HIV‐infected patients were characterized for clonality, maturation cell characteristics, activation of c‐myc proto‐oncogene and presence of HIV and EBV genomes. Four out of the 6 AIDS‐related NHLs were of immature B‐cell origin, contrasting with the lower frequency (2 out of 31) of immature B‐cell NHLs occurring in HIV‐negative patients. Moreover, 3 out of the 4 AIDS‐related pre‐B‐NHLs were extranodal lymphomas. C‐myc translocations or rearrangements were not found in Italian AIDS‐related NHLs, unlike c‐myc activation which had a high prevalence in the American series of AIDS‐related NHLs. HIV and EBV are not, or only occasionally, directly involved in AIDS‐related NHL pathogenesis since HIV genome has never been found in the neoplastic clones and EBV genome was detected in only 1 out of the 6 lymphomas analyzed. Copyright © 1990 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company