loss of p16 protein expression and its association with epstein-barr virus lmp-1 expression in hodgkin's lymphoma

background: expression of epstein-barr virus latent member protein-1 (ebv lmp-1) and loss of p16 protein expression are documented in lymphoma, indicating a relationship between them, but this relationship is not clear and sometimes contradictory. thus, this study was conducted to examine the relationship between the loss of p16 and ebv lmp-1 expression in jordanian patients diagnosed with lymphoma. methods: sections were made from archival formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded blocks from 55 patients diagnosed with lymphoma. p16 expression and lmp-1 expression were detected by immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies. results: in hodgkin's lymphoma (hl), the loss of p16 was higher in lmp-1 positive cases (61%) than lmp-1 negative cases (25%; p = 0.072). conversely, in non-hodgkin's lymphoma (nhl), none of lmp-1 positive samples showed loss of p16. furthermore, among lmp-1 hl positive cases, the loss of p16 was more frequent in male (75%) than female (33%). also, there was a significantly higher proportion of lmp-1 positive cases showing loss of p16 in hl (11:18), compared to those in nhl (0:8, p < 0.001), confirming a difference between hl and nhl, concerning the lmp-1/p16 relationship. conclusion: a trend for an association between loss of p16 and lmp-1 expression was observed in hl but not nhl patients. these findings suggest that there are molecular and clinical differences in the pathogenesis and development of different subtypes of lymphoma. please cite this article as: irshaid f, tarawneh kh, alshdefat a, dilmi f, jaran a, al-hadithir, al-khatib a. loss of p16 protein expression and its association with epstein-barr virus lmp-1 expression in hodgkin's lymphoma. iran j cancer prev. 2013; 6(2):78-84. references 1. jaffe es, harris nl, stein h, isaacson pg. classification of lymphoid neoplasms: the microscope as a tool for disease discovery. blood. 2008; 112:4384-99. 2. piccaluga pp, agostinelli c, gazzola a, tripodo c, bacci f, sabattini e, et al. pathobiology of hodgkin lymphoma. advances in hematology. 2011; 2011:18. 3. jordanian national cancer registry, cancer incidence in jordan, report of ministry of health, pp. 47-49; 2004. http://www.khcc.jo/national-cancer-statistics .aspx. 4. cohen, ji. epstein–barr virus infection. n engl j med. 2000; 17:481-92. 5. bechtel d, kurth j, unkel c, kuppers r. transformation of bcr-deficient germinal-center b cells by ebv supports a major role of the virus in the pathogenesis of hodgkin and post transplantation lymphomas. blood. 2005; 106:4345-50. 6. kapatai g, murray p. contribution of the epstein barr virus to the molecular pathogenesis of hodgkin lymphoma. j clin pathol. 2007; 60:1342-9. 7. kamranvar sa, gruhne b, szeles a, masucci mg. epstein–barr virus promotes genomic instability in burkett's lymphoma. oncogene. 2007; 26:5115-23. 8. dessy e, rossi e, berenzi a, tironi a, benett a, grigolato p. chromosome 9 instability and alterations of p16 gene in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung and in adjacent normal bronchi: fish and immunohistochemical study. histopathology journal. 2008; 52:475-82. 9. serrano m, lee h, chin l, cordon-cardo c, beach d, depinho ra. role of the ink4a locus in tumor suppression and cell mortality. cell. 1996; 85:27-37. 10. hayslip j, montero a. tumor suppressor gene methylation in follicular lymphoma: a comprehensive review. molecular cancer. 2006; 5: 3-7. 11. chebel a , chien ww , gerland lm , mekki y , bertrand y . does p16ink4a expression increase with the number of cell doublings in normal and malignant lymphocytes? 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