RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Prevalence and relevance of EBV latency in nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Israel
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP 290
OP 293
DO 10.1136/jcp.2003.013094
VO 57
IS 3
A1 G Bar-Sela
A1 A Kuten
A1 I Minkov
A1 E Gov-Ari
A1 O Ben-Izhak
YR 2004
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/57/3/290.abstract
AB Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is frequently associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The incidence of NPC in Western countries is lower than in the Far East, and EBV latency in NPC is less prevalent. Israel, as a part of the Mediterranean area, is one of the countries with an intermediate risk for NPC. Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) for latent membrane protein 1 (LMP-1) and in situ hybridisation (ISH) for EBV encoded RNA (EBER) were used to evaluate the prevalence and possible prognostic value of EBV latency among Israeli patients with NPC. Forty five patients with different NPC histologies were studied. Results: LMP-1 IHC was positive in six samples only, all with undifferentiated histology. EBER ISH was positive in 40 of the 45 samples. According to histological type, three of five patients with squamous cell carcinoma were EBV positive and 37 of 40 non-keratinising and undifferentiated carcinoma cases were positive. Although EBV was more prevalent in patients with non-squamous carcinoma, the difference was not significant, probably because of the small number of patients with keratinising carcinoma. With regard to the clinical categories and survival, no significant difference could be detected between patients who were positive or negative for EBER ISH. No association was found between EBV latency and patient sex, age, origin, stage, or survival. Conclusions: NPC in Israel is highly associated with EBV latency as detected by EBER ISH. LMP-1 IHC is considerably less sensitive in detecting EBV latency in NPC among the same patient group.