Simian-virus-40 footprints in human lymphoproliferative disorders of HIV- and HIV+ patients

SV40 sequences were investigated by PCR DNA amplification followed by filter hybridization in a series of human lymphoproliferative disorders obtained from human-immunodeficiency-virus (HIV)-seronegative and HIV- infected patients. Our PCR and filter-hybridization conditions enabled us to detect SV40 sequences in the range of 10^-4 to 10^-2 genome equivalents per cell. In non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) from HIV^- patients, SV40 footprints were found in 11 out of 79 (13.9%) samples, while in NHL from HIV⁺ patients SV40 DNA sequences were detected in 2/16 (12.5%). In Hodgkin's disease (HD), SV40 sequences were found in 7/43 (16.3%) and 1/12 (8.3%) in HIV^- and HIV⁺ patients respectively. A slightly higher prevalence of SV40 footprints was observed in reactive lympho-adenopathies both in HIV^- (3/9, 33.3%) and in HIV⁺ (6/17, 35.3%) patients. Sequence analysis of 2 NHL and 2 HD DNA samples established that the amplified PCR products belong to the SV40 sequences. SV40 prevalence and load were similar in samples from HIV-seronegative and HIV-infected individuals, suggesting that SV40 probably does not undergo strong reactivation phenomena in the context of HIV-related immunosuppression. Moreover, the large T-antigen(Tag) expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in 5/18 SV40-DNA-positive samples analyzed; however, few tumor cells (