Syndromes mononucléosiques et pathologies hématologiques liés au virus d'Epstein-Barr

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which preferentially infects B cells, persists in the infected subject as a latent asymptomatic infection. In adolescents, infectious mononucleosis is the symptomatic manifestation of primary EBV infection. The viral latency in the memory B-cells, the reservoir cells in peripheral blood in individuals is controlled by CD4 and CD8 positive T-cells. Immunodeficient patients are at high risk of developing EBV driven B-cell lymphomas as the consequence of the expression of oncogenic latency proteins LMP1 and EBNA2. These proteins expressed in infected B cells identify latency III or proliferation program in virus transformed B-cell, leading to lymphoid proliferation. In addition to immunodeficiency-related lymphomas, the most frequent lymphoid malignancies associated with EBV are the endemic Burkitt lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and nasal type T-cell lymphoma.