Epstein-Barr Virus EBNA-2 Polymorphic Patterns in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in Southern China

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to characterize the specific Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) polymorphisms from nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients and healthy donors in Southern China, and to explore the relationship between EBV genotypes and NPC. Methods: The EBNA-2 gene of 32 EBV-positive NPCs and 39 EBV-positive throat washing (TW) samples from healthy individuals from Southern China was analyzed using PCR and sequencing. Results: We found E2-A to be the predominant subtype in Southern China. The distribution of EBNA-2 subtypes between NPCs and TWs was significantly different (p < 0.01) and the E2-A subtype was overly represented in NPCs. Conclusions: E2-A is the predominant subtype in Southern China, and the distribution of EBNA-2 subtypes between NPCs and TWs is significantly different. In Southern China, the E2-A subtype is significantly more frequent in NPCs than TWs, and is also more common than in Northern China. This suggests that the E2-A subtype may play an important role in the pathogenesis of NPC and that EBNA-2 gene variations are tumor-specific polymorphisms.

The initial study of EBNA-2 polymorphisms in nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Vietnam

“…The second pastern of group 2, which was represented by T69, carried 11 amino acid changes at residue 151 (ATT:Ile → ATG:Met), 163 (ACG:Arg → GTG:Val), 185 (CAA:Gln → CGA:Arg), 195 (ATG:Met → ACG:Thr), 245 (CCA:Pro → CAA:Gln), 246 (CGC:Arg → CGT:Ser), 280 (ACT:Thr → AAT: Asn), 476 (GAG:Glu → GGG:Gly), 468 (ATC:Ile → ACC:Thr), 490 (CCC:Pro → ACC:Thr), 509 (AAC:Asn → GAC:Asp) and one insertion in 241 (CTC: Leu). In the current study, the variants E2-A was identified as the predominant subtype in our samples, which was also characterized as the frequent subtype in other Asian countries, including Hong Kong (Kwok et al, 2014), Southern China (Wu et al, 2015).…”