NUCLEIC-ACID SEQUENCE-BASED AMPLIFICATION, A NEW METHOD FOR ANALYSIS OF SPLICED AND UNSPLICED EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS LATENT TRANSCRIPTS, AND ITS COMPARISON WITH REVERSE-TRANSCRIPTASE PCR
Aatp. Brink et al., NUCLEIC-ACID SEQUENCE-BASED AMPLIFICATION, A NEW METHOD FOR ANALYSIS OF SPLICED AND UNSPLICED EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS LATENT TRANSCRIPTS, AND ITS COMPARISON WITH REVERSE-TRANSCRIPTASE PCR, Journal of clinical microbiology (Print), 36(11), 1998, pp. 3164-3169
Nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) assays were develope
d for direct detection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) transcripts encodin
g EBV nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1), latent membrane proteins (LMP) 1 and
2, and BamHIA rightward frame 1 (BARF1) and for the noncoding EBV earl
y RNA 1 (EBER1), The sensitivities of all NASBAs were at least 100 cop
ies of specific in vitro-generated RNA. Furthermore, 1 EBV-positive JY
cell in a background of 50,000 EBV-negative Ramos cells (the relative
sensitivity) was detected by using the EBNA1, LMP1, and LMP2 NASBA as
says. The relative sensitivity of the EBER1 NASBA was 100 EBV-positive
cells, which was probably related to the loss of small RNA molecules
during the isolation. The BARF1 and LMP2 NASBAs were evaluated on clin
ical material. BARF1 expression was found in 6 of 7 nasopharyngeal car
cinomas (NPC) but in 0 of 22 Hodgkin's disease (HD) cases, whereas LMP
2 expression was found in 7 of 7 NPCs and in 17 of 22 HD cases. For de
tection of EBNA1 transcripts in HLs (n = 12) and T- and B-cell non-Hod
gkin's lymphomas (n = 3 and n = 2, respectively), NASBA was compared w
ith reverse transcriptase (RT) PCR. Two samples were positive only,vit
h NASBA, and two other samples were positive only with RT-PCR; for all
other samples, the RT-PCR and NASBA results were in agreement. We con
clude that NASBA is suitable for sensitive and specific detection of t
he above-mentioned EBV transcripts, regardless of their splicing patte
rns and the presence of EBV DNA. The EBNA1, LMP2, and BARF1 NASBAs dev
eloped in this study proved to be reliable assays for detection of the
corresponding transcripts in EBV-positive clinical material.