Relationship between Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) DNA and the EBV‐determined nuclear antigen (EBNA) in Burkitt lymphoma biopsies and other lymphoproliferative malignancies

Abstract

Twenty-six of 27 African Burkitt lymphomas with histologically confirmed diagnosis contained relatively large amounts of EBV D N A (10-101 viral genomes per cell), as determined by nucleic acid hybridization. Twenty-Jive of the 26 EB V D NA-positive lymphomas contained the E B V-determined nuclear antigen, EBNA, in the majority of the nuclei. Technical reasons may have accounted for the apparent EBNA-negativity of one EB V D NA-positive biopsy. Four African lymphoma biopsies, one with a definite diagnosis of' Burkitt's lymphoma and three with a questionable diagnosis of the same disease, were all EBV DNA-and EBNA-negative. The same was true for a collection of Swedish cases of Hodgkin's disease, lymphocytic lymphoma, chronic lymphatic leukemia and some other lymphoproliferative malignancies. Thus, there is excellent agreement between the presence of EBV D N A and of EBNA in tumor biopsies. The EBNA antigen test therefore appears a relatively simple way of testing for the presence of the virus genome, provided it is carried out with appropriate controls. Several of the EBV-genome and EBNA-negative cases came from patients with high seruni titers of EB V antibodies. It is concluded that the virus does not readily travel along with malignant lytnphoinas as a passenger in the seropositive patients. In comparison with other lymphomas, African Burkitt's lyniphorna of the high endemic areas is unique in that the tumors (with rare exceptions) represent the proliferation of an EB V-genome carrying clone. These findings stress the necessity to distinguish between EB V-seropositive status and e ) iderice for EB V-genome-carrying neoplastic cells. Received: February 19, 1974. B. M. Reedman is a visiting scientist from Queensland lnstitute

Clonal development of myeloproliferative disorders: clues to hematopoietic differentiation and multistep pathogenesis of cancer

“…He became interested in extending this approach to study other human neoplasia, initially by addressing the questions generated by the identification of the Ph 1 chromosome. Subsequently the implication of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in the etiology of Burkitt's lymphoma 32 provided the impetus for studying the clonal nature of these tumors at initial diagnosis and recurrence. Despite the infection of many B lymphocytes, initial Burkitt's tumors were found to be clonal and recurrences after short remissions belonged to the same clone.…”

Functional interaction of Ugene and EBV infection mediates tumorigenic effects

“…It has been implicated in the pathogenesis and tumor progression in several human malignancies, including Burkitt's and Hodgkin's lymphomas, gastric carcinoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) (Lindahl et al, 1974;Kis et al, 2006;Queiroga et al, 2008). EBV infection is mainly characterized by the expression of latent genes including nuclear antigens (EBNAs), latent membrane proteins (LMPs) and EBV-encoded RNA (EBER) (Munz and Moormann, 2008;Thorley-Lawson and Allday, 2008) under strict, host-cell-dependent transcriptional control.…”

Direct Evidence for the Presence of Epstein-Barr Virus DNA and Nuclear Antigen in Malignant Epithelial Cells from Patients with Poorly Differentiated Carcinoma of the Nasopharynx

“…DNA of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been regularly detected by nucleic acid hybridization in African Burkitt lymIhoma cells (1)(2)(3), which also contain a characteristic EBVdetermined nuclear antigen (EBNA) (3)(4)(5). Since Burkitt lymphoma is known to have a single cell origin (6), this disease can be regarded as a malignant proliferation of a clone carrying the EBV genome.…”