Antibody responses to two Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigens (EBNA-1 and EBNA-2) during EBV primary infection in children born to mothers infected with human immunodeficiency virus.

A variety of antibody response patterns to the latent Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen (EBNA) family have been described in different groups of subjects infected with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The purpose of this study was to characterize the immune response to two EBNA proteins, EBNA-1 and EBNA-2, in a population of children who were born to mothers infected with HIV and who underwent EBV seroconversion. Serial serum specimens from 33 children (nine were infected with HIV, and 24 were not infected) were evaluated for the presence of antibodies to EBNA-1 and EBNA-2 by anticomplement immunofluorescence. All the EBNA serology profiles observed for children in our study who were not infected with HIV were consistent with those described for immunocompetent hosts with acute EBV infection, i.e., development of antibodies to EBNA-1, often preceded by the appearance of a humoral immune response to EBNA-2. In contrast, following EBV primary infection in HIV-infected children, antibodies to EBNA-2 arose after antibodies to EBNA-1 and tended to persist. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of EBNA-2 serology as a prognostic marker in HIV-infected children.