尽管已有关于霍奇金淋巴瘤发病机制的假说,但真正的机制仍不清楚。EB 病毒阳性霍奇金淋巴瘤与 EB 病毒阴性霍奇金淋巴瘤的发病机制可能不同。霍奇金淋巴瘤是一种 B 细胞恶性肿瘤,患者体内通常缺少免疫球蛋白表达(尽管基因发生重组且体细胞高度突变)。[8]Marafioti T, Hummel M, Foss HD, et al. Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg cells represent an expansion of a single clone originating from a germinal center B-cell with functional immunoglobulin gene rearrangements but defective immunoglobulin transcription. Blood. 2000;95:1443-1450.http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/content/full/95/4/1443http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10666223?tool=bestpractice.com一般需要具有表面免疫球蛋白(B 细胞受体)才能确保 B 细胞存活下来。在 EB 病毒阳性霍奇金淋巴瘤患者体内中,病毒蛋白(LMP1、LMP2A、EBNA1)被认为会通过模仿对于 B 细胞生长、存活和逃避凋亡必不可少的活跃细胞受体的结构,使被感染的异常 B 细胞能够逃避凋亡且/或以不受控制的方式复制。[9]Portis T, Ikeda M, Longnecker R. Epstein-Barr virus LMP2A: regulating cellular ubiquitination processes for maintenance of viral latency? Trends Immunol. 2004;25:422-426.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15275641?tool=bestpractice.com[10]Kilger E, Kieser A, Baumann M, et al. Epstein-Barr virus-mediated B-cell proliferation is dependent upon latent membrane protein 1, which simulates an activated CD40 receptor. EMBO J. 1998;17:1700-1709.http://www.nature.com/emboj/journal/v17/n6/full/7590884a.htmlhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9501091?tool=bestpractice.com