title: Spontaneous lytic replication and epitheliotropism define an Epstein-Barr virus strain found in carcinomas.
abstract: The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is found in a variety of tumors whose incidence greatly varies around the world. A poorly explored hypothesis is that particular EBV strains account for this phenomenon. We report that M81, a virus isolated from a Chinese patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), shows remarkable similarity to other NPC viruses but is divergent from all other known strains. M81 exhibited a reversed tropism relative to common strains with a reduced ability to infect B cells and a high propensity to infect epithelial cells, which is in agreement with its isolation from carcinomas. M81 spontaneously replicated in B cells in vitro and in vivo at unusually high levels, in line with the enhanced viral replication observed in NPC patients. Spontaneous replication and epitheliotropism could be partly ascribed to polymorphisms within viral proteins. We suggest considering M81 and its closely related isolates as an EBV subtype with enhanced pathogenic potential.
authors.affiliation: German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), Unit F100, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Inserm Unit U1074, DKFZ, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ming-Han
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raykova
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Klinke
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bernhardt
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gärtner
authors.forename: Carol S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Geletneky
authors.forename: Serkan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sertel
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Münz
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Feederle
authors.forename: Henri-Jacques
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Delecluse
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000821:virology; D002277:Carcinoma; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000821:virology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D010641:Phenotype; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins