title: Quantitative PCR for Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus Loads in Cancer Diagnostics.
abstract: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis and is associated with posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD), Hodgkin's lymphoma, Burkitt's lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and HIV-related lymphomas. It infects nearly all humans and then persists for the life of the host in a small proportion of benign B lymphocytes. EBV reactivation, usually in the setting of immunosuppression, is the main risk factor for development of EBV-associated malignancies. EBV reactivation can be detected in tissue specimens using EBV-encoded RNA (EBER) in situ hybridization (ISH), which is routinely used for diagnosis of PTLD and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, EBER ISH cannot be routinely used for screening asymptomatic or monitoring posttreatment outcome due to difficulty in obtaining tissue specimens for testing and the nonquantitative nature of the assay. Recent studies have shown that EBV genomic DNA can be detected in blood of patients with EBV-associated diseases, and that monitoring of EBV viral load in blood could be an effective method of distinguishing disease-associated EBV reactivation from incidental EBV present in benign B lymphocytes, and could be used for diagnostic screening and monitoring of EBV-associated diseases. In this chapter we discuss a protocol for quantitative plasma EBV DNA analysis.
authors: Department of Hematopathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd. Unit 072, Houston, TX, 77030, USA. sloghavi@mdanderson.org.
authors: Sanam
authors: S
authors: Loghavi
mesh_terms: D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: EBV; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; PTLD; qPCR