epstein-barr virus promotes tumorigenicity and worsens hodgkin lymphoma prognosis by activating jak/stat and nf-κb signaling pathways

Background: epstein-barr virus (ebv) is detected in 40% of patients with hodgkin lymphoma (hl). during latency, ebv induces epigenetic alterations to the host genome and decreases the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins. the present study aimed to evaluate the expression levels of mrna molecules and the end product of proteins for the jak/stat and nf-κb pathways, and their association with clinicopathological and prognostic parameters in patients with ebv-positive and -negative classical hodgkin lymphoma (chl).methods: a prospective cohort study was conducted from 2017 to 2022 at the faculty of medicine, zagazig university hospital (zagazig, egypt). biopsy samples of 64 patients with chl were divided into ebv-positive and ebv-negative groups. the expression levels of mrna molecules (jak2, stat1, irf-1, pd-l1, ifn-γ, nf-κb, bcl-xl, cox-2) and the end product of proteins (pd-l1, bcl-xl, cox-2) were determined and compared with clinicopathological and prognostic parameters. data were analyzed using the chi square test and kaplan-meier estimate. results: ebv-positive chl patients were significantly associated with positive expression of mrnas molecules (p<0.001) and the end product of proteins (p<0.001) for the jak/stat and nf-κb pathways, b-symptoms (p=0.022), extra-nodal involvement (p=0.017), and advanced stage of chl (p=0.018). these patients were more susceptible to cancer progression, higher incidence of relapse (p=0.008), poor disease-free survival rate (p=0.013), poor overall survival rate (p=0.028), and higher mortality rate (p=0.015).conclusion: through the activation of jak/stat and nf-κb signaling pathways, ebv-positive chl is associated with poor clinicopathological parameters, higher incidence of disease progression, relapse, and poor overall survival.