Detection of anti‐EBV TCR CDR3s associated with better outcomes for EBV‐positive, Ugandan cases of Burkitt lymphoma

Abstract Burkitt lymphoma (BL) has a tight association with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. While the relationship between BL and EBV is well documented, the relationship between the anti‐EBV adaptive immune response, particularly in sub‐Saharan African cases, and disease course, has not been substantially investigated. An analysis of T‐cell receptor (TCR) complementarity determining region‐3 (CDR3) sequences, reported here, from EBV‐positive, Ugandan BL tumor samples revealed a correlation between the presence of anti‐EBV CDR3s and improved overall survival probabilities. Furthermore, chemical complementarity assessments demonstrated higher complementarity for TCR CDR3s and EBV epitopes in the cases where there had been a detection of the anti‐EBV CDR3 AA sequence matches in the BL tumor samples. Overall, the results reported here raise the question of whether EBV targeted immunotherapy would lead to better BL outcomes?