ABSTRACT
DNA sequences coding for simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen have been detected at different frequencies in human non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) by PCR techniques as well as immunohistochemistry. A highly sensitive quantitative real-time PCR specific for a sequence of SV40 large T antigen was established to test whether SV40 DNA is present in malignant lymphomas of German patients. Thirty-three lymph node samples obtained from 27 patients with NHL and 6 patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) were tested in addition to 48 samples of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) from patients with NHL containing between 0.1% and >90% circulating lymphoma cells determined by PCR. Fourteen lymph nodes obtained from patients with other diseases than malignant lymphomas and 47 PBMNC samples from healthy volunteers served as controls. All samples from patients with malignant lymphomas and all controls were negative for SV40 DNA by quantitative real-time. In contrast, EBV-DNA could be detected in 29 of 46 DNA preparations isolated from lymph nodes (63%) and in 20 of 47 DNA preparations from PBMNC. EBV-positive samples contained between 5 and 80,000 EBV copies per 100,000 cells. Our results do not support the hypothesis that SV40 plays a major role in the etiology of malignant lymphomas and, in addition, they exclude a clonal SV 40 infection of malignant lymphoma cells in all samples investigated.