Quantitative detection of epstein-Barr virus infectious status in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues

OBJECTIVE:To explore the clinical significance of quantitative detection of Epstein-Barr virus infectious status in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues.METHODS:The carcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues from 30 patients with poorly differentiated nasopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma were prepared simultaneously,and nasopharyngeal tissues from 15 healthy subjects were used as the control.The EBV DNA copies in the samples were tested by using rea1-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(PCR).RESULTS:The infectiou rates of EBV were 73.3%(11/15)in nasopharyngeal tissues of healthy subjects(mean EBV DNA copies of 6.5×102 μg-1 DNA),100%(30/30)in carcinoma tissues and 76.7%(23/30)in adjacent tissues of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients(mean EBV DNA copies of 6.7×105 μg-1 DNA and 1.3×105 μg-1 DNA)respectively.There was no significant diference in the infectious rates and levels of EBV between the adjacent carcinoma tissues of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and nasopharyngeal tissues of healthy subjects(P0.05).The infectious level of EBV was significantly higher in carcinoma tissues than in adjacent tissues,and significantly higher in adjacent tissues than in normal nasopharyngeal tissues of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients(P0.01).CONCLUSIONS:EBV latent infection is a common phenomenon in nasopharyngeal tissues of both nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and healthy persons.The enhancement of EBV infection plays an important role during carcinogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients,which sheds further light on the occurrence of EBV with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.