Seroprevalence of Human Herpes Simplex, Hepatitis B and Epstein-Barr Viruses in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Southern Iran

To investigate the seroprevalence of Herpes Simplex Viruses (HSV1 and HSV2), Ebstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in southern Iran. 90 patients with ALL and 90 age-sex matched healthy participants were enrolled in this study. Antibodies (IgG) against HBsAg, HSV1, HSV2, EBV different antigens including Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1), viral capsid antigen (VCA) and early antigen (EA) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). There were 54 (60%) male and 36 (40%) female in both study groups with mean age of 8.47 +/- 3.61 and 8.61 +/- 2.84 years in case and control group respectively (P=0.812). The prevalence of antibodies against HBsAg (P=0.002), HSV1 (P< 0.0001), VCA (P=0.021) and EA (P<0.0001) antigens of EBV were significantly higher in ALL patients. With the results of this study, we could not exclude a connection between these viral infections and later leukemogenesis in childhood ALL, although nor latent infection nor congenital infection cannot be excluded by this method.