Association of Epstein-Barr Virus and Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in Caucasian Patients

Abstract

We evaluated the association of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in Spanish patients, and studied the expression of EBV products (latent membrane protein-1 [LMP-1] and ZEBRA proteins) by NPC cells and its possible prognostic value. In situ hybridization (ISH) for EBV-encoded nonpolyadenylated RNAs (EBERs) and immunohistochemical expression of LMP-1 and ZEBRA proteins by immunohistochemistry were examined in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded NPC specimens from 30 patients, and a survival analysis was done by the Kaplan-Meier method. We detected EBERs by ISH in 96.67% of the NPC cases, and detected expression of LMP-I in 43.33% of the NPC cases and expression of ZEBRA protein in 6.67% of the NPC cases. We conclude that ISH for expression of EBERs is an adequate method for detection of EBV in NPC. LMP-1 is not frequently expressed in NPC cells (43.33%). Most NPC cells carry a latent EBV infection. LMP-1 expression might have worsened the prognosis of NPC in our series.

HLA Class II Alleles and the Presence of Circulating Epstein-Barr Virus DNA in Greek Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

“…We also found that all three histological types of NPC were associated with the presence of EBV. Our results are consistent with previous reports which suggest that NPC in the Mediterranean basin resembles the Asian type and is strictly associated with the EBV infection [2,13,40].…”

Prevalence and relevance of EBV latency in nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Israel

“…The Spanish trial studied 30 specimens from patients with NPC, 29 of which were positive by EBER ISH, but only 13 were positive by LMP-1 IHC. 15 The Italian study found that 16 of 24 samples of non-keratinising (types 2 and 3) NPC were positive by EBER ISH. 16 The results of our present study in an Israeli population, in which 40 of 45 patients were positive by EBER ISH, are similar to these last two studies, although only six of our 45 patients were positive for LMP-1 IHC.…”

Fluctuations of Epstein-Barr Virus Serological Antibodies and Risk for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Prospective Screening Study with a 20-Year Follow-Up

“…In 1973, presence of EBV genomes was demonstrated in epithelial NPC cells [18] and EBV-related antigens were detected in the tumor cells of all NPC patients [26]. Subsequently, the expression of the viral genome in non-keratinising NPC has been studied extensively in areas with NPC epidemic [14], [16], [27] and major types of viral expression proteins have been found, e.g., EBNA1 [28]–[30], LMP1 [15], [31]–[34] and LMP2A [31]. Moreover, in case-control studies, NPC cases showed significantly higher antibody titers to EBV antigens than controls in several retrospective studies [11], [19], [35]–[38].…”