title: Screening for nasopharyngeal carcinoma with an ELISA using the Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen, EBNA 1: a complementary test to the IgA/VCA immunofluorescence assay.
abstract: An ELISA using the Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA 1) was found to detect selectively specific IgA in sera from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The antigen, p107, was a 20-amino acid synthetic peptide, representing a major epitope of EBNA 1.267/294 (90.8%) of NPC patients had IgA antibodies to p107 but in normal individuals, only 41/577 (7.1%) had IgA/p107. In sera from patients with other cancers, 11/77 (14.3%) had IgA/p107 reactivity. 124 IgA/VCA positive and 86 IgA/VCA negative NPC sera were also tested for IgA/p107 binding in ELISA. The majority of IgA/VCA positive sera (117) also contained IgA/p107 antibodies. Of interest was the detection of 74/86 IgA/p107 reactive sera in the IgA/VCA negative group. The results suggest that the IgA/p107 ELISA could become a useful, complementary screening assay to the IgA/VCA immunofluorescence test for detection of NPC.
authors.affiliation: Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Research Laboratory, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Foong
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathew
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Sam
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dillner
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Prasad
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000032:analysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D000939:Epitopes; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D010446:Peptide Fragments