Research from M.Q. Zhang and co-authors yields new data on Epstein-Barr virus.

"A 74-year-old woman with a clinical history of invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast was found to have a splenic mass during a routine radiographic survey. Splenectomy revealed a 3-cm well-demarcated lesion, which on histopathologic examination consisted of heterogeneous inflammatory cells," scientists writing in the journal Applied Immunohistochemistry & Molecular Morphology report (see also Epstein-Barr Virus).

"A strinking feature of the lesion was the presence of innumerable well-formed non-necrotizing granulomas. Immunohistochemical Studies confirmed the lesion to be composed mainly of mixed T and B lymphocytes, histiocytes, and plasma cells. No spindle cell component was evident oil light microscopic examination or by immunohistochemical staining for smooth muscle actin, anaplastic lymphoma kinase. or follicular dendritic cell markers CD21 and CD35. Interestingly, Epstein-Barr virus-encoded RNA and talent membrane protein were detected by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, in numerous lymphohistiocytic cells within the lesion, but not in surrounding uninvolved Splenic tissue," wrote M.Q. Zhang and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "To our ...