title: Use of bacterially expressed GST/EBNA-1 fusion proteins for detection of antibodies in sera from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and healthy donors.
abstract: Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1) is a protein expressed consistently in EBV infected cells and in EBV related malignant tissues. Antibodies against EBNA-1 may therefore possibly be used as a marker for disease screening. Western blot analysis of serum antibodies was performed using GST (glutathione-S-transferase) fusion proteins containing different regions of EBNA-1 as antigens. Serum samples were collected from 38 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and 38 healthy individuals in Taiwan. All samples were found IgG positive for EBNA-1 when a truncated protein GST/E1 (70-102, 325-641) was used as the antigen. Thirty-three out of 38 NPC sera (86.8%) were positive for IgA antibody against EBNA-1. The positive rate was higher in comparison with IgA antibody against VCA (65.7%) or antibody against DNase (60.5%). Only 2.6% of sera from normal individuals were positive for an IgA response against EBNA-1. The major antigenic determinants for NPC serum IgA response were between amino acid(aa) 390 to aa 459 when different portions of EBNA-1 were used as antigens. The results suggest that IgA response against EBNA-1 could be used in combination with other EBV serology markers for NPC screening.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Microbiology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: T Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002213:Capsid / Q000276:immunology; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000276:immunology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D005982:Glutathione Transferase