This brief communication focuses on aspects of a recent case report (Yonsei Med J 2005;46:425-30) on a full and sustained remission of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) after a single day of chemotherapy. A septic episode required stopping chemotherapy and starting amphotericin B and acyclovir. Remission evidence was seen within days of starting these. A review of research supporting the notion that amphotericin B can reactivate latent Epstein-Barr virus and thus allow acyclovir to kill infected HL cells is given. Experimental work is required to confirm or refute this possibility. If successful, amphotericin B and acyclovir treatment could be extended to other EBV-driven cancers such as Burkitt's lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and the occasional EBV-related epithelial cancer of the breast, colon, prostate, and others.
Virus Activation ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/metabolism ; Remission Induction ; Humans ; Hodgkin Disease/*drug therapy/pathology/*virology ; Herpesvirus 4, Human/*metabolism ; Ganciclovir/therapeutic use ; *Drug Synergism ; Burkitt Lymphoma/virology ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology ; Amphotericin B/*pharmacology ; Acyclovir/*therapeutic use

Adult ; Antigens, CD20 ; metabolism ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; CD3 Complex ; metabolism ; Cyclophosphamide ; therapeutic use ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Doxorubicin ; therapeutic use ; Epstein-Barr Virus Infections ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Follow-Up Studies ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; Hodgkin Disease ; Humans ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; virology ; Male ; Prednisone ; therapeutic use ; RNA, Viral ; metabolism ; Vincristine ; therapeutic use ; Young Adult