Epstein-Barr virus and oral squamous cell carcinoma in patients without HIV infection: viral detection by polymerase chain reaction

In order to test the hypothesis that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) may be a cofa ctor for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) the authors evaluated tumour c ells from OSCC of 108 patients without HIV infection, for the presence of E BV DNA by polymerase chain reaction. The sequences of oligonucleotides used in the amplification and hybridization included a set for the DNA polymera se region. The amplification was detected using an ELISA assay with peroxid ase. EBV DNA was detected in 17.59% of the tumours. Inhibition studies show ed that the ability to detect EBV DNA was not affected by the pathological material, suggesting that the negative PCR results in these samples were no t caused by PCR inhibitors in the biopsy. Results revealed that 63.1% of th e tumours (12 cases) were DNA positive affecting the lateral margin of the tongue, and were statistically significant (9 <0.001; chi(2)). In the pool of tumours with EBV DNA only 26.3% (5 of 19 cases) were well differentiated OSCCs whereas the remaining 73.7% (14 of 19 cases) were moderately and poo rly differentiated OSCCs, with a statistical significance of p = 0.08; chi( 2). This study suggests a relationship between OSCC and EBV.