Worldwide prevalence of Epstein–Barr virus in patients with Burkitt lymphoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a form of B-cell malignancy that progresses aggressively and is most often seen in children. While Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is a double-stranded DNA virus that has been linked to a variety of cancers, it can transform B lymphocytes into immortalized cells, as shown in BL. Therefore, the estimated prevalence of EBV in a population may assist in the prediction of whether this population has a high risk of increased BL cases. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prevalence of Epstein–Barr virus in patients with Burkitt lymphoma. Using the appropriate keywords, four electronic databases were searched. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s critical appraisal tool. The results were reported as percentages with a 95% confidence interval using a random-effects model (CI). PROSPERO was used to register the protocol (CRD42022372293), and 135 studies were included. The prevalence of Epstein–Barr virus in patients with Burkitt lymphoma was 57.5% (95% CI: 51.5 to 63.4, n = 4837). The sensitivity analyses demonstrated consistent results, and 65.2% of studies were of high quality. Egger’s test revealed that there was a significant publication bias. EBV was found in a significantly high proportion of BL patients (more than 50% of BL patients). This study recommends EBV testing as an alternative for predictions and the assessment of the clinical disease status of BL.

Citation

Al-Khreisat MJ, Ismail NH, Tabnjh A, Hussain FA, Mohamed Yusoff AA, Johan MF, Islam MA. (2023) Worldwide Prevalence of Epstein–Barr Virus in Patients with Burkitt Lymphoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Diagnostics. 13 (12) Article Number 2068. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13122068

PubMed ID

37370963 (pubmed)

Additional Links

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/13/12/2068

Type

Journal article

Language

en

Description

© 2024 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13122068

ISSN

2075-4418

EISSN

2075-4418

Rights

Licence for published version: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

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Collections

Faculty of Science and Engineering