Detection of Epstein–Barr virus and Cytomegalovirus in Iraqi Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia patients

Abstract

Objective : determination the percent of infection of EBV and CMV infections in Iraqi patient infected with ALL .Methods : the study have concentrated to determine the rate of EBV and CMV infections by detecting EBV and CMV antibodies in both the IgM and IgG classes of immunoglobulins by ELISA method and Indirect Immunofluorescence Test ( IIFT) as well as chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) for detecting Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) EBER RNA and CMV DNA . Results : from total 50 ALL patients were involved in this study , 50% were having viral infection (22% patients infected with EBV and 28% infected with CMV) this may be referred that in present study the viral causes may be equal to other unknown etiological factors of ALL collectively. anti-EBV Ig G and EBER RNA were detected in( 24%,12) of all ALL patients and anti EBV Ig M was found only in (4%,2) of ALL patients and patients with positive EBV Ig M also were positive for anti EBV Ig G and EBER RNA while anti-CMV IgG and CMV DNA were detected in (28%,14) of all ALL patients involved in the study and only (8%,4) of ALL patients showed positive anti CMV Ig M and patients with positive anti CMV Ig M also were positive for anti CMV Ig G and CMV DNA. Conclusion : The presence of elevated levels of EBV-infected cells or CMV-infected cells within the peripheral blood may be risk factors for developing ALL and the incidence of CMV infection (28%) was slightly greater than the rate of EBV infection (24%) in ALL patients and this may be referred that in present study the viral causes may be equal to other unknown etiological factors of ALL collectively.