Analysis of human herpes virus-6 genomes in lymphoid malignancy in Japan.

Ninety cases of malignant lymphoma and 56 cases of reactive lymphadenopathy were studied using Southern blot analysis and the polymerase chain reaction to identify human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6) DNA. This was detected in cases of lymphoid malignancy at a rate which ranged from 50.0% to 68.8%. There were no differences in rates for different types of lymphoid malignancies. Herpes virus-6 DNA was detected by PCR in lymphoid malignancies less frequently than in reactive lymphadenopathies. It was not detected in lymphoid malignancies using Southern blotting. These results suggest that HHV-6 DNA was not related to lymphoid malignancy and was only a latent infection of non-neoplastic cells in tumour tissue.