TNFAIP3 and Hodgkins lymphoma: 64 This suggests that EBV might play a major role as an initial event in HL pathogenesis by rescuing crippled GC B cells from apoptosis. Notably, most TNFAIP3-mutated CHLs are EBV negative, indicating that A20 inactivation and EBV infection are largely mutually exclusive transforming events in classical HL.46