Autoradiographic detection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated early antigen in a variety of EBV DNA-containing lymphoblastoid cell lines previously designated as nonproducers.

By using autoradiography combined with 125I-labeled IgG prepared from human sera containing high anti-EA (early antigen) antibody titers, EA has been detected in a low fraction of cells in a variety of EBV DNA-containing cell lines previously designated as negative for this antigen. These positive cell lines are highly inducible for EA following treatment with iododeoxyuridine (IUDR) and also contain multiple copies of the virus genome on average. The correlation between IUDR inducibility and spontaneous expression of EA, in particular, suggests that the ability to express EA in both situations is interrelated.