title: A molecular study of EBV DNA and p53 mutations in nasopharyngeal carcinoma of Saudi Arab patients.
abstract: Tumor biopsies obtained from 25 Saudi Arab patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) were examined for the presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and for the incidence of p53 mutations screened by a combination of PCR, single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). DNA sequencing was carried out to confirm the occurrence of p53 mutation. While 92% of the tumor specimens were found to carry EBV DNA, only 1/25 showed the incidence of a homozygous mutation at codon 248 of the p53 gene. The data showed that despite a high association of EBV infection with Saudi NPC, the frequency of p53 mutations was very low. Our results are consistent with the worldwide observation of infrequent p53 mutations in NPC.
authors.affiliation: King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nasrin
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taiba
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hannan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hannan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: al-Sedairy
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D016158:Genes, p53 / Q000235:genetics*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral