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Epstein‐Barr virus BMRF‐2 and BDLF‐3 expression in hairy leukoplakia
Author(s) -
Palefsky JM,
Penaranda ME,
Pierik LT,
Lagenaur LA,
MacPhail LA,
Greenspan D,
Greenspan JS
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
oral diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.953
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1601-0825
pISSN - 1354-523X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1601-0825.1997.tb00353.x
Subject(s) - biology , gene , epstein–barr virus , virus , virology , gene expression , complementary dna , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics
Hairy leukoplakia (HL) is a lesion found on the side of the tongue of immunocompromised individuals, including those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The lesion has unique histopathologic features and is characterised by high‐level Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) replication, multiple EBV strains, and extensive inter‐and intra‐strain recombination. Expression of EBV genes spanning the entire viral life cycle from latency‐associated genes to late, replicative genes has been detected in the lesion. HL thus provides a unique opportunity to study EBV expression in oral epithelium, and to study expression of novel EBV genes. We therefore constructed a cDNA library from an HL biopsy and detected expression of two genes not previously described in vivo: BMRF‐2 and BDLF‐3. Sequence analysis of the cDNAs revealed few amino acid changes from the B95‐8 sequence. Expression of both genes was localized to the lower prickle cell layer of the tongue epithelium. BMRF‐2 protein expression was primarily detected in the cell nuclei of the upper prickle cell layer. BDLF‐3 protein expression was observed in the perinuclear space and Golgi compartment. The function of these proteins is currently under investigation.