Primary bilateral adrenal B-cell lymphoma associated with EBV and JCV infection

Abstract

Primary lymphoma of the adrenal gland is a rare and highly aggressive disease, with only a few reports in the literature. The pathogenesis is unknown, but detection of Epstein Barr virus (EBV) genome sequences and gene expression in some cases of primary adrenal lymphomas suggested the virus might be a causative agent of the malignancy. While investigating the presence of genome sequences of oncogenic viruses in a large series of adrenal tumors, both EBV and JC polyomavirus (JCV) DNA sequences were detected in a diffuse large primary bilateral B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the adrenal gland, which was diagnosed only at postmortem examination in a 77 year-old woman with incidentally discovered adrenal masses and primary adrenal insufficiency. The presence of both EBV and JCV genome sequences suggests the relevance of EBV and JCV coinfection in the pathogenesis of this rare form of B-cell lymphoma. © 2009 Barzon et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.