Epstein-Barr virus orchestrates spatial reorganization and immunomodulation in the classic Hodgkin lymphoma tumor microenvironment.
| Authors | |
| Keywords | |
| Abstract | Classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is composed of rare malignant Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells within a T-cell-rich tumor microenvironment (TME). Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is present in ∼25% of cases, but its contribution to pathogenesis and immunomodulation remains unclear due to technical barriers. Using complementary spatial proteomics and transcriptomics across multi-institutional cohorts, we systematically map key EBV-linked TME reorganization. EBV-positive cHL exhibits distinct immunological features, including memory CD8 T cell enrichment, heightened T cell dysfunction spatially correlated with HRS proximity, and terminally exhausted T cell signatures contrasting with progenitor-exhausted patterns in EBV-negative disease. We identify EBV-encoded LMP1 as a factor in T cell dysfunction through enhanced HRS:CD8 interactions, and its expression level correlates with T cell terminal exhaustion in a distance-dependent manner. This spatial framework dissects viral-mediated immune evasion in the cHL TME, highlighting potential therapeutic opportunities to target virus-associated T cell dysfunction for precision immunotherapy in virus-associated malignancies. |
| Year of Publication | 2026
|
| Journal | Cell reports. Medicine
|
| Pages | 102722
|
| Date Published | 03/2026
|
| ISSN | 2666-3791
|
| DOI | 10.1016/j.xcrm.2026.102722
|
| PubMed ID | 41923627
|
| Links |