Epstein-Barr virus-associated B-cell proliferations of diverse clonal origins after bone marrow transplantation in a 12-year-old patient with severe combined immunodeficiency

Abstract

A 12-year-old boy with severe combined immunodeficiency who had been kept in a gnotobiotic environment since birth received bone marrow from a histoincompatible sibling in an attempt to reconstitute immunologic function. To prevent graft versus host disease, the donor's marrow was treated in vitro with monoclonal antibody and complement to remove alloreactive T cells. Eighty days after transplantation, the patient had a systemic illness characterized by fever, thrombocytopenia, gastrointestinal pain, and bleeding; he died on the 124th post-transplantation day. Postmortem examination revealed multiple tumor-like B-cell proliferations, recipient in origin, in numerous organs. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was isolated from the patient's pharyngeal secretions; EBV nuclear antigen was found in spontaneously transformed peripheral-blood lymphocytes, inflammatory cells from peritoneal fluid, and bone marrow cells; and EBV genomes were discovered in all tumor tissues. The donor's serum showed evidence of past EBV infection. Analysis of cellular immunoglobulin and immunoglobulin gene DNA from the tumors indicated both monoclonal and oligoclonal B-cell proliferations. These findings provide evidence for the evolution of EBV-induced polyclonal activation of B cells to oligoclonal B-cell proliferation and finally to monoclonal B-cell lymphoma.