A naturally derived gastric cancer cell line shows latency I Epstein-Barr virus infection closely resembling EBV-associated gastric cancer.

In a process seeking out a good model cell line for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated gastric cancer, we found that one previously established gastric adenocarcinoma cell line is infected with type 1 EBV. This SNU-719 cell line from a Korean patient expressed cytokeratin without CD19 or CD21 expression. In SNU-719, EBNA1 and LMP2A were expressed, while LMP1 and EBNA2 were not. None of the tested lytic EBV proteins were detected in this cell line unless stimulated with phorbol ester. EBV infection was also shown in the original carcinoma tissue of SNU-719 cell line. Our results support the possibility of a CD21-independent EBV infection of gastric epithelial cells in vivo. As the latent EBV gene expression pattern of SNU-719 closely resembles that of the EBV-associated gastric cancer, this naturally derived cell line may serve as a valuable model system to clarify the precise role of EBV in gastric carcinogenesis.