Epstein-Barr virus strain characterisation in South African patients with nasopharyngeal carcinomas

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated in various diseases, among oth ers, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). In this study we investigated the freq uency and subtype distribution of EBV in 39 NPCs. The presence of EBV was d etected by using a nested PCR to amplify the Bam HI W-fragment of the genom e. Two regions were targeted for subtype analysis, namely the EBNA-2A and E BER regions. PCR was used to amplify these regions, and the EBER region was sequenced to detect subtype specificity. The results showed that EBV could be defected in 82% (31/38) of the tumours. In 15 of these, EBNA subtypes c ould be identified of which 14 were subtype A and one tumour had both subty pes A and B present. The EBER region was amplified in 21 samples. The major ity of cases(18/21) demonstrated a mutation profile which consisted of 5 ty pe B and one type A mutations. The consensus type is therefore type B. In c onclusion: a strong association was found between EBV and NPCs in our group of patients and their "consensus" genotype was A/B based on the two genome areas investigated.