Absence of a directly causative role for human herpesvirus 7 in human lymphoma and a review of human herpesvirus 6 in human malignancy

In search of a (new) viral etiological agent, we screened 64 lymph node samples from Hodgkin's disease (HD) and 43 samples (32 lymph node and 11 skin biopsies) from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) for human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7). Twenty-nine control samples were tested as well, including 17 with benign lymphadenopathy. None of the samples tested positive by Southern blot hybridization using HHV-7-specific probes, We conclude that there is no major HHV-7 load in human lymphoma and that HHV-7 is not likely to be directly involved in its etiology. This is in contrast to a small minority of human lymphoproliferative diseases in which HHV-6 can be found at high copy number, but in which an etiological role is still uncertain.