Abstract
As a rare, sporadic disease Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) presents a difficult problem in defining a likely etiology. Epidemiological data would not a priori lead one to choose a viral etiology. However, there are rare tumours which occur as sequelae of common infections from Epstein-Barr virus or human papilloma viruses. Likewise some viruses can cause cells to elaborate cytokines which could ultimately stimulate Langerhans cell growth. There is only a small amount of experimental data testing the hypothesis that viruses might be associated with LCH. The theoretical constructs surrounding this question and new data refuting the association are summarised.
Full text
PDF


Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Berger R., Gartner S., Rappersberger K., Foster C. A., Wolff K., Stingl G. Isolation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 from human epidermis: virus replication and transmission studies. J Invest Dermatol. 1992 Sep;99(3):271–277. doi: 10.1111/1523-1747.ep12616619. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Corbeel L., Eggermont E., Desmyter J., Surmont I., De Vos R., De Wolf-Peeters C., Cobbaert C., Eykens A. Spontaneous healing of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (histiocytosis X). Eur J Pediatr. 1988 Oct;148(1):32–33. doi: 10.1007/BF00441809. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Embretson J., Zupancic M., Ribas J. L., Burke A., Racz P., Tenner-Racz K., Haase A. T. Massive covert infection of helper T lymphocytes and macrophages by HIV during the incubation period of AIDS. Nature. 1993 Mar 25;362(6418):359–362. doi: 10.1038/362359a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gonzalez-Crussi F., Hsueh W., Wiederhold M. D. Prostaglandins in histiocytosis-X. PG synthesis by histiocytosis-X cells. Am J Clin Pathol. 1981 Feb;75(2):243–253. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/75.2.243. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Greaves M. F., Alexander F. E. An infectious etiology for common acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood? Leukemia. 1993 Mar;7(3):349–360. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kinlen L. J. Infective cause of childhood leukaemia. Lancet. 1989 Feb 18;1(8634):378–379. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(89)91746-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Koury S. T., Bondurant M. C., Koury M. J. Localization of erythropoietin synthesizing cells in murine kidneys by in situ hybridization. Blood. 1988 Feb;71(2):524–527. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Laegreid W. W., Taylor S. M., Leid R. W., Silflow R. M., Evermann J. R., Breeze R. G., Liggitt H. D. Virus-induced enhancement of arachidonate metabolism by bovine alveolar macrophages in vitro. J Leukoc Biol. 1989 Apr;45(4):283–292. doi: 10.1002/jlb.45.4.283. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Leahy M. A., Krejci S. M., Friednash M., Stockert S. S., Wilson H., Huff J. C., Weston W. L., Brice S. L. Human herpesvirus 6 is present in lesions of Langerhans cell histiocytosis. J Invest Dermatol. 1993 Nov;101(5):642–645. doi: 10.1111/1523-1747.ep12371669. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Maciejewski J. P., Bruening E. E., Donahue R. E., Sellers S. E., Carter C., Young N. S., St Jeor S. Infection of mononucleated phagocytes with human cytomegalovirus. Virology. 1993 Aug;195(2):327–336. doi: 10.1006/viro.1993.1383. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Moore K. W., Vieira P., Fiorentino D. F., Trounstine M. L., Khan T. A., Mosmann T. R. Homology of cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor (IL-10) to the Epstein-Barr virus gene BCRFI. Science. 1990 Jun 8;248(4960):1230–1234. doi: 10.1126/science.2161559. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Nimer S. D., Gasson J. C., Hu K., Smalberg I., Williams J. L., Chen I. S., Rosenblatt J. D. Activation of the GM-CSF promoter by HTLV-I and -II tax proteins. Oncogene. 1989 Jun;4(6):671–676. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ostertag W., Vehmeyer K., Fagg B., Pragnell I. B., Paetz W., Le Bousse M. C., Smadja-Joffe F., Klein B., Jasmin C., Eisen H. Myeloproliferative virus, a cloned murine sarcoma virus with spleen focus-forming properties in adult mice. J Virol. 1980 Feb;33(2):573–582. doi: 10.1128/jvi.33.2.573-582.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Paul C. C., Keller J. R., Armpriester J. M., Baumann M. A. Epstein-Barr virus transformed B lymphocytes produce interleukin-5. Blood. 1990 Apr 1;75(7):1400–1403. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reisbach G., Sindermann J., Kremer J. P., Hültner L., Wolf H., Dörmer P. Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1) is expressed by spontaneously outgrown EBV-B cell lines and activated normal B lymphocytes. Blood. 1989 Aug 15;74(3):959–964. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Saiki R. K., Gelfand D. H., Stoffel S., Scharf S. J., Higuchi R., Horn G. T., Mullis K. B., Erlich H. A. Primer-directed enzymatic amplification of DNA with a thermostable DNA polymerase. Science. 1988 Jan 29;239(4839):487–491. doi: 10.1126/science.2448875. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wakasugi H., Rimsky L., Mahe Y., Kamel A. M., Fradelizi D., Tursz T., Bertoglio J. Epstein-Barr virus-containing B-cell line produces an interleukin 1 that it uses as a growth factor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Feb;84(3):804–808. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.3.804. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Weiss R. A. How does HIV cause AIDS? Science. 1993 May 28;260(5112):1273–1279. doi: 10.1126/science.8493571. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Weiss R. A. Retroviruses and human cancer. Semin Cancer Biol. 1992 Oct;3(5):321–328. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
