Anti-EBV serologic tests for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Sixty-three serum specimens from American patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were examined for antibodies to antigens associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and compared with 98 specimens from patients with other head and neck cancers, 133 from patients with benign head and neck diseases, and 96 from healthy donors. The level of antibody titers to EBV-associated antigens was correlated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The anti-EBV profile of elevated antibody titers directed against viral capsid antigen and early antigen was seen in undifferentiated and nonkeratinizing tumors but usually not in squamous cell tumors. Titers tended to rise with large increases in total tumor burden caused by distant metastases, often before clinical evidence of metastases. At the time of diagnosis, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity testing was performed on serum samples from 46 of the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Pretreatment titers were usually low in patients in whom recurrence developed and were high in most of the patients who had a good response to treatment and have remained free of recurrence.