Hodgkin’s Disease and Human Herpesvirus-6: A Model for Studies of New Aetiological Agents

Abstract

Although clinical and epidemiological evidence support the role of infectious agents in the aetiology of Hodgkin’s disease (HD), it has not been possible to identify a single pathogen that fits with the epidemiology of this disease. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been linked to HD by a number of serological (Levine et al., 1970; Johannson et al., 1970; Levine et al., 1971; Hesse et al., 1977; Mueller et al., 1989) and virological (Weiss et al., 1989; Bignon et al., 1990; Jarrett et al., 1991; Pallesen et al., 1991; Ambinder et al., 1993) studies with the strongest EBV-association identified in children and older adults (Jarrett et al., 1991; Ambinder et al., 1993), and this virus remains a serious aetiological candidate for a significant proportion of HD cases. Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6), first described in 1986 (Salahuddin et al., 1986), has also been linked to HD by serological (Ablashi et al., 1988; Biberfeld et al., 1988; Clark et al., 1990; Iyengar et al., 1991; Levine et al., 1992a) and virological (Torelli et al., 1991; Gompels et al., 1993) studies. This report will summarise the data suggesting an aetiological association, review relevant studies to place these findings in perspective, and discuss possible approaches to the identification of other candidate aetiological agents based on the studies of these two herpesviruses.