title: Human oropharyngeal lesions with a defective Epstein-Barr virus that disrupts viral latency.
abstract: The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a human herpesvirus that is predominantly latent after infection, can be induced to replicate by deleted, rearranged EBV DNA from cultures of laboratory strain P3HR-1. Because mucosal surfaces are permissive of EBV replication, 101 oral biopsies from 70 Chinese and 5 American patients were examined for natural counterparts to tissue culture defective virus (WZhet), using as marker the abnormal juxtaposition of BamHI W and Z EBV DNA restriction fragments. Of the 49 oral biopsies that contained EBV DNA, 12 (24%) had the rearranged WZ fragment by polymerase chain reaction analysis: 3 (42%) of 7 EBV-positive epithelial dysplasias or carcinomas, 6 (38%) of 16 hairy leukoplakias, and 3 (12%) of 25 nonmalignant salivary gland biopsies. Accompanying viral replication was confirmed by in situ cytohybridization and demonstration of the linear configuration of the genome in select WZhet-positive lesions. These findings indicate that defective EBV with the unusual property of disrupting EBV latency is prevalent in natural infections and may contribute to EBV's pathogenic diversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Virology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38101-0318.
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shirley
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Sixbey
mesh_terms: D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002460:Cell Line; D004279:DNA, Viral; D003673:Defective Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D007971:Leukoplakia / Q000382:microbiology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010608:Pharyngeal Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000382:microbiology; D009057:Stomatognathic Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D017735:Virus Latency; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral