Detection of Epstein-Barr virus genomes in archival tissues by polymerase chain reaction.

We used oligonucleotide primers designed from DNA sequences unique to the long internal direct repeated region of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to enzymatically amplify this segment of the EBV genome in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. The products amplified from EBV templates were detected by hybridization with a labeled probe specific for this highly conserved, reiterated region. Epstein-Barr virus-related sequences were detected in the spleen of a patient with infectious mononucleosis, in lung and lymph node specimens from a patient with pulmonary manifestations of infectious mononucleosis, in various tissues from seven immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients with immunoproliferative disorders, and in small biopsy specimens from a patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. No viral sequences were detected in 20 histologically normal spleens or 10 lymph nodes. Polymerase chain reaction technology provides an effective means for documenting EBV infection in archival tissues. This approach should facilitate the diagnosis of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders and difficult cases of infectious mononucleosis and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.