Mitotic EBNA-positive lymphocytes in peripheral blood during infectious mononucleosis (original) (raw)
- Letter
- Published: 01 September 1980
Nature volume 287, pages 334–335 (1980)Cite this article
- 42 Accesses
- 47 Citations
- Metrics details
Abstract
Infectious mononucleosis (IM) is usually a benign lymphoproliferative disease caused by Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)1. Although EBV induces a state of continuous proliferation in infected B lymphocytes _in vitro_2,3, the most prominent lymphoproliferation during IM is of activated, or atypical, T lymphocytes presumably responding to the virus or virus-infected cells4. However, EBV genome-carrying cells are known to be circulating during IM, as cultured peripheral blood leukocytes from patients with the disease give rise to continuous lymphoblastoid cell lines, each cell of which contains the EBV genome and expresses the EBV determined nuclear antigen (EBNA)5,6. The proposal that EBV-infected cells in IM blood are not endowed with enhanced growth potential but are merely latently infected7 is supported by demonstrations that cells infected in vivo enter a viral replicative cycle when placed in vitro and that most cell lines derived from cultured lymphocytes of IM patients are infected by virus released _in vitro_8. However the cells could also be capable of proliferation in vivo, since virus production and transformation are not mutually exclusive properties of EBV-transformed cells9. Recently, EBNA has been detected in a very small fraction of peripheral blood lymphocytes of IM patients after T cells were first removed10,11 and this has been interpreted to indicate that cell transformation occurs in vivo during IM. The isolation of colonies of EBNA-positive cells from IM blood leukocytes cultures in soft agar suggests that at least some infected cells are capable of direct outgrowth into transformed cells12. We report here direct evidence that circulating EBV-infected cells exhibit increased growth properties during IM.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Additional access options:
Similar content being viewed by others
References
- Henle, G., Henle, W. & Diehl, V. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 59, 94–101 (1968).
Article ADS CAS Google Scholar - Jondal, M. & Klein, G. J. exp. Med. 138, 1365–1378 (1973).
Article CAS Google Scholar - Robinson, J., Andiman, W., Henderson, E. & Miller, G. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 749–753 (1977).
Article ADS CAS Google Scholar - Sheldon, P., Papamichael, M., Hemsted, E. & Holborow, E. Lancet i, 1153–1157 (1973).
Article Google Scholar - Diehl, V., Henle, G., Henle, W. & Kohn, G. J. Virol. 2, 663–669 (1968).
CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar - Reedman, B. & Klein, G. Int. J. Cancer 11, 499–504 (1973).
Article CAS Google Scholar - Epstein, M. & Achong, B. Lancet ii, 836–839 (1973).
Article Google Scholar - Rickinson, A., Jarvis, J., Crawford, D. & Epstein, M. Int. J. Cancer 14, 704–715 (1974).
Article CAS Google Scholar - Miller, G. & Lipman, M. J. exp. Med. 138, 1398–1412 (1973).
Article CAS Google Scholar - Klein, G., Svedmyr, E., Jondal, M. & Persson, P. Int. J. Cancer 17, 21–26 (1976).
Article CAS Google Scholar - Katsuki, T. et al. Int. J. Cancer 23, 746–750 (1979).
Article CAS Google Scholar - Hinuma, Y. & Katsuki, T. Int. J. Cancer. 21, 426–431 (1978).
Article CAS Google Scholar - Robinson, J. et al. New Engl. J. Med. 302, 1293–1297 (1980).
Article CAS Google Scholar - Niederman, J., McCollum, R., Henle, G. & Henle, W. J. Am. med. Ass. 203, 205–209 (1968).
Article CAS Google Scholar - Svedmyr, E. & Jondal, M. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72, 1622–1626 (1975).
Article ADS CAS Google Scholar - Böyum, A. Scand. J. clin. Lab. Invest. Suppl. 21, 77–89 (1968).
Article Google Scholar - Gershon, A., Kalter, Z. & Steinberg, S. Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. med. 151, 762–765 (1976).
Article CAS Google Scholar
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
- Departments of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, 06510
James Robinson, Douglas Smith & James Niederman
Authors
- James Robinson
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - Douglas Smith
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - James Niederman
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Robinson, J., Smith, D. & Niederman, J. Mitotic EBNA-positive lymphocytes in peripheral blood during infectious mononucleosis.Nature 287, 334–335 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/287334a0
- Received: 11 June 1980
- Accepted: 29 July 1980
- Published: 01 September 1980
- Issue Date: 25 September 1980
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/287334a0