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EBNA‐1 sequence variation in Danish and Chinese EBV‐associated tumours: evidence for geographical polymorphism but not for tumour‐specific subtype restriction
Author(s) -
Sandvej Kristian,
Zhou XiaoGe,
HamiltonDutoit Stephen
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
the journal of pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.964
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1096-9896
pISSN - 0022-3417
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9896(200006)191:2<127::aid-path614>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - nasopharyngeal carcinoma , biology , tropism , virus , epstein–barr virus , virology , population , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , environmental health , radiation therapy
The Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen (EBNA)‐1 is consistently expressed in EBV‐associated tumours. Recently, EBNA‐1 carboxy (C)‐terminal sequence variants have been described based on the amino acid signature at codon 487, and designated prototype (P)‐ala (identical to prototype B95.8 strain), P‐thr, variant (V)‐val, V‐leu, and V‐pro. These studies suggest that certain EBNA‐1 variants show selective cell tropism and may be preferentially associated with different EBV‐positive malignancies; for example, in contrast to P‐ala subtypes, V‐val appeared to be restricted to the oral compartment and to be associated with undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). To test the hypothesis that V‐val subtypes are restricted in distribution, EBNA‐1 variants were investigated in NPC and throat washings (TWs) from a low (Denmark) and a high (China) NPC risk area. For comparison, cases of Hodgkin's disease (HD) were also studied. V‐val was found to be the dominant EBNA‐1 subtype, not only in Chinese TWs and NPC biopsies, but also in Chinese HD. Furthermore, V‐val was not detected in any of the Danish NPC biopsies or TW samples. These findings show that V‐val is not associated with NPC, nor is it restricted to the oral compartment, but rather that it represents a dominant Asian EBNA‐1 subtype, both in EBV‐associated malignancies and in the general population. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.