Chen C L, Hsu M M, Hsu H C
Department of Pathology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Republic of China.
Intervirology. 1996;39(4):230-5. doi: 10.1159/000150522.
The close association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is well documented and the expression of EBV-related latent genes has been shown in NPC. Nevertheless, the status of EBV infection in the nontumor epithelial and lymphoid cells is not known. In this study, we detected EBV in the nontumor component of NPC and nontumor nasopharyngeal biopsies by in situ hybridization using digoxigenin-labeled antisense EBER1 oligoprobe in 346 nasopharyngeal biopsies. Latent membrane protein (LMP) and ZEBRA were detected by immunohistochemistry in cases containing EBER1-positive cells. The EBV-positive epithelial and lymphoid cells were identified by immunostains for cytokeratin and lymphoid phenotypes. In the nontumor nasopharyngeal biopsies, 21 (11.7%) of 179 cases had EBV-harboring lymphocytes in the lymphoid tissue, while the overlying mucosa was all negative. LMP was demonstrated in lymphoid cells of 14 (66.7%) of these 21 samples. These EBV-positive lymphocytes were B lymphocytes by combined phenotype study. EBER1-containing metaplastic squamous cells were demonstrated in the overlying mucosa close to the tumor tissue in 14 (8.4%) of 167 NPC samples. In contrast, the respiratory epithelial cells in these cases were all negative. Two (1.2%) of these cases had EBV-positive lymphocytes in the lymphoid stroma. Four of the 346 cases had ZEBRA-positive cells. This study demonstrated that latent infection and, occasionally, active replication of EBV were present in stromal B lymphocytes in nasopharyngeal tissue with and without NPC. EBER1 was found only in the metaplastic squamous cells in the mucosa of nasopharyngeal tissues with NPC, but not in those without NPC.
爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）与鼻咽癌（NPC）的密切关联已有充分记录，且EBV相关潜伏基因在鼻咽癌中也有表达。然而，非肿瘤上皮细胞和淋巴细胞中EBV感染的状况尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们通过原位杂交，使用地高辛标记的反义EBER1寡核苷酸探针，在346份鼻咽活检组织中检测了鼻咽癌非肿瘤成分及非肿瘤性鼻咽活检组织中的EBV。对含有EBER1阳性细胞的病例，通过免疫组织化学检测潜伏膜蛋白（LMP）和ZEBRA。通过细胞角蛋白和淋巴细胞表型的免疫染色鉴定EBV阳性上皮细胞和淋巴细胞。在非肿瘤性鼻咽活检组织中，179例中有21例（11.7%）在淋巴组织中有携带EBV的淋巴细胞，而其上方黏膜均为阴性。在这21个样本中的14例（66.7%）的淋巴细胞中检测到LMP。通过联合表型研究，这些EBV阳性淋巴细胞为B淋巴细胞。在167例鼻咽癌样本中的14例（8.4%）靠近肿瘤组织的上方黏膜中发现了含有EBER1的化生鳞状细胞。相比之下，这些病例中的呼吸道上皮细胞均为阴性。其中2例（1.2%）在淋巴基质中有EBV阳性淋巴细胞。346例中有4例有ZEBRA阳性细胞。本研究表明，在有或无鼻咽癌的鼻咽组织中，基质B淋巴细胞中存在EBV潜伏感染，偶尔也有活跃复制。仅在有鼻咽癌的鼻咽组织黏膜化生鳞状细胞中发现EBER1，而在无鼻咽癌的组织中未发现。
