Ikeda T, Kobayashi R, Horiuchi M, Nagata Y, Hasegawa M, Mizuno F, Hirai K
Department of Microbiology, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.
J Gen Virol. 2000 May;81(Pt 5):1211-6. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-81-5-1211.
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) persists for life in the infected host. Little is known about EBV reactivation and regulation of virus persistence in healthy individuals. We examined tonsils of chronic tonsillitis patients to detect EBV transcripts, EBV genomes and lytic proteins. LMP1 transcripts were observed in 11 of 15 specimens and BZLF1 transcripts were detected in six. Multiple copies of EBV genome equivalents per cell, and ZEBRA- and viral capsid antigen-positive cells were also detected in tonsillar lymphocytes. These results indicate that EBV productively infected cells may survive in the face of immune surveillance in the tonsils. Thus, EBV replication may occur in tonsillar lymphocytes, and tonsillar lymphoid tissues may play a role in the maintenance of EBV load in vivo.
爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）在受感染宿主中终身持续存在。对于健康个体中EBV的重新激活及病毒持续性的调控知之甚少。我们检查了慢性扁桃体炎患者的扁桃体，以检测EBV转录本、EBV基因组和裂解蛋白。在15个标本中的11个中观察到了LMP1转录本，在6个标本中检测到了BZLF1转录本。在扁桃体淋巴细胞中还检测到每个细胞有多个EBV基因组当量拷贝，以及ZEBRA和病毒衣壳抗原阳性细胞。这些结果表明，EBV高效感染的细胞可能在扁桃体的免疫监视下存活。因此，EBV复制可能发生在扁桃体淋巴细胞中，并且扁桃体淋巴组织可能在体内维持EBV载量方面发挥作用。
