DETECTION OF AN EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS VARIANT IN T-CELL-LYMPHOMA TISSUESIDENTICAL TO THE DISTINCT STRAIN OBSERVED IN NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMAIN THE TAIWANESE POPULATION
Ys. Chang et al., DETECTION OF AN EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS VARIANT IN T-CELL-LYMPHOMA TISSUESIDENTICAL TO THE DISTINCT STRAIN OBSERVED IN NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMAIN THE TAIWANESE POPULATION, International journal of cancer, 62(6), 1995, pp. 673-677
An EBV variant has been identified in NPC tissues in Taiwan. This EBV
variant contains a point mutation in exon 1 of the LMP 1 gene. This mu
tation results in the loss of an Xhol site at nt 169,426, which is pre
sent in strain B95-8. In addition, this variant contains a 30-bp delet
ion in exon 3 of the gene. The recent demonstration of the prevalence
of EBV-containing nasal and peripheral T-cell lymphoma in this region
drove us to evaluate the presence of this NPC-EBV strain in 7 cases of
T-cell lymphoma, as well as in 48 NPC tissues, 2 cases of Hodgkin's d
isease and 1 B-cell lymphoma. Four samples of normal lymphnode tissue,
40 of normal nasopharynx tissue and 78 throat washings of healthy ind
ividuals were included for comparison. We used sequence-specific prime
rs and the polymerase chain reaction (FOR) method to amplify LMP 1 gen
e fragments containing these variations. Mutations were then confirmed
by restriction-enzyme digestion and the DNA sequencing analysis. Our
results showed that 57 of 58 tumor-tissues samples were EBV-positive.
Among them, 56, including 6 T-cell-lymphoma samples, belonged to the N
PC strain. This strain of EBV was also present in 92% of EBV-positive
normal nasopharynx tissues and in 84% of EBV-positive throat washings
of the healthy individuals tested. These results suggest that the NPC-
EBV strain is prominently present in Taiwan. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.