Sumaya C V
J Infect Dis. 1977 Mar;135(3):374-9. doi: 10.1093/infdis/135.3.374.
In a prior systematic community survey, 20 adults were found to have antibodies to viral capsid antigen (VCA) and early antigen (EA) OF Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in serum. The presence of the latter antibody suggested a recent response to EBV. In the present study the significance of antibody to EA was more extensively evaluated by examination of the sera of these adults for the presence of EBV-specific IgM antibodies (EBV-IgM) and antibodies to EBV nuclear antigen (EBVNA). Sera of a matched group of adults with antibodies to VCA but without antibodies to EA were compared with those of the 20 adults with antibodies to EA (anti-EA-positive). In the anti-EA-positive group, 19 specimens of serum contained EBV-IgM, 16 contained elevated titers of antibodies to VCA, and 20 contained antibodies to EBVNA. The sera of the matched group had neither detectable EBV-IgM nor elevated titers of antibodies to VCA; however, all sera had antibodies to EBVNA. None of the individuals gave a history of an infectious mononucleosis-like illness. It was suggested that the majority, if not all, of the anti-EA-positive group were manifesting a host immune response to endogenous reactivation of latent EBV. It is of interest that the presence of EBV-IgM was part of this response.
在之前的一项系统性社区调查中，发现20名成年人血清中存在针对爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）病毒衣壳抗原（VCA）和早期抗原（EA）的抗体。后一种抗体的存在提示对EBV有近期反应。在本研究中，通过检测这些成年人血清中EBV特异性IgM抗体（EBV-IgM）和EBV核抗原（EBVNA）抗体的存在，对EA抗体的意义进行了更广泛的评估。将一组匹配的有VCA抗体但无EA抗体的成年人血清与20名有EA抗体（抗EA阳性）的成年人血清进行比较。在抗EA阳性组中，19份血清标本含有EBV-IgM，16份含有VCA抗体的高滴度，20份含有EBVNA抗体。匹配组的血清既未检测到EBV-IgM，也没有VCA抗体的高滴度；然而，所有血清都有EBVNA抗体。这些个体均无传染性单核细胞增多症样疾病史。提示抗EA阳性组中的大多数（如果不是全部）正在表现出对潜伏EBV内源性再激活的宿主免疫反应。有趣的是，EBV-IgM的存在是这种反应的一部分。
