Frequency of Transforming Epstein-Barr Virus in Oropharyngeal Secretions of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Abstract

To determine if rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have an increased frequency of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) shedding into saliva, throat washings were collected from 59 patients with RA and 64 healthy adult controls. EBV in filtered samples was detected by transformation of human umbilical cord lymphocytes. EBV was detected in 27% (16/59) of throat washings of RA patients compared to 11% (7/64) of control samples. This difference is significant (p < 0.05). RA patients on steroids had a frequency of positivity of 43% (10/23) compared to 17% (6/36) in patients not on steroids. No correlation was demonstrated between steroid dose received by the patient and detection of EBV in throat washings. Parotid fluid samples were collected from 18 RA patients and 11 healthy controls and were tested for EBV by the transformation bioassay. EBV was detected in 18% (2/11) of samples from normal controls, but samples from RA patients were uniformly negative.

The Epstein-Barr virus in autoimmunity

“…They found that patients on treatment with corticosteroids were more frequently positive than those who were not, but this was the same for the control patients as for the RA patients. Aitcheson et al [1] describe similar findings. Yao et al [157], using a technique for detection of infectious virus that was apparently more sensitive, found a somewhat higher frequency of positives from the RA patients than from their controls.…”

Increased levels of Epstein‐Barr virus DNA in lacrimal glands of Sjögren's syndrome patients

“…In these conditions, T-cell function is believed to be compromised. In SS patients, T-cell function and natural killer cells have also been reported to be abnormal (Diaz-Jouanen et al 1981;Aitcheson et al 1983;Rickinson et al 1981;Miyasaka et al 1980), suggesting a similar pathophysiology. Although the mechanism of increased levels of EBV genomes in SS patients is not clearly understood, T-cell abnormalities may enable EBV to mfiltrate the B-cells of SS patients' lacrimal glands (Pepose et al 1990).…”

Epstein-Barr virus infection in 59 orthotopic liver transplant patients

“…In the studies giving percentage of EBV excretion in normal individuals [1,3,4,8,9,17,19,20], the percentage range from 0% to 27%. However, the numbers of tested individuals are generally low.…”