title: Detection of an Epstein-Barr-virus variant in T-cell-lymphoma tissues identical to the distinct strain observed in nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the Taiwanese population.
abstract: An EBV variant has been identified in NPC tissues in Taiwan. This EBV variant contains a point mutation in exon I of the LMP I gene. This mutation results in the loss of an XhoI site at nt 169,426, which is present in strain B95-8. In addition, this variant contains a 30-bp deletion in exon 3 of the gene. The recent demonstration of the prevalence of EBV-containing nasal and peripheral T-cell lymphoma in this region drove us to evaluate the presence of this NPC-EBV strain in 7 cases of T-cell lymphoma, as well as in 48 NPC tissues, 2 cases of Hodgkin's disease and I B-cell lymphoma. Four samples of normal lymph node tissue, 40 of normal nasopharynx tissue and 78 throat washings of healthy individuals were included for comparison. We used sequence-specific primers and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to amplify LMP I gene fragments containing these variations. Mutations were then confirmed by restriction-enzyme digestion and the DNA sequencing analysis. Our results showed that 57 of 58 tumor-tissues samples were EBV-positive. Among them, 56, including 6 T-cell-lymphoma samples, belonged to the NPC strain. This strain of EBV was also present in 92% of EBV-positive normal nasopharynx tissues and in 84% of EBV-positive throat washings of the healthy individuals tested. These results suggest that the NPC-EBV strain is prominently present in Taiwan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Chang-Gung College of Medicine and Technology, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: I J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D005091:Exons; D017353:Gene Deletion; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000821:virology; D016393:Lymphoma, B-Cell / Q000821:virology; D016399:Lymphoma, T-Cell / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000821:virology; D017354:Point Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012016:Reference Values; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C037662:EBV-associated membrane antigen, Epstein-Barr virus; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins