[Significance of virus-specific antibodies to EBV-antigens in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (author's transl)].

Sera collected from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, patients with other head and neck neoplasms, patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM), and healthy donors were titrated for antibodies (IgM, IgG, IgA) against Epstein-Barr-Virus (EBV) specific antigens (VCA, EA, EBNA) by indirect and by antikomplementary immunfluorescence. NPC-patients develop significantly high anti-EBV titers of IgG and IgA. In contrast patients with neoplasms (mainly carcinomas) arising in sites of the head and neck other than the nasopharynx revealed a lower incidence of high titers. Our results emphasize the remarkable predominance of IgA-antibodies to VCA and EA in NPC-patients and shows that Europeans to not differ in that respect from Asian patients. The significance and implications of these findings are discussed.