Relationship between nasopharyngeal carcinoma and high antibody titers to epstein‐barr virus‐specific thymidine kinase

Abstract

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has long been implicated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Recent studies in our and other laboratories have shown a correlation between the disease and high antibody titers to EBV-specific DNase. These data led us to also examine serial sera from healthy adults and patients with infectious mononucleosis or NPC, for their capacity to neutralize the EBV-specific thymidine kinase (TK) activity from chemically induced EBV-carrying human lymphoblastoid cells. Our results were the following: (i) sera were found that efficiently blocked the EBV-specific TK activity of induced-Raji TK- cell extracts, but not the host-cell TK activity from EBV-negative BJAB cells; (ii) a relationship appeared between high levels of EBV-specific TK-neutralizing activity in sera and NPC pathology, even though in this preliminary study the degrees of EBV-induced TK-blocking activity detected in sera were not significantly correlated with EBV-specific antibody titers; (iii) the EBV-induced TK-neutralizing activity was found in the main IgG fraction derived from NPC sera. These data must be compared with other known antibody responses to EBV for their clinical interest in NPC control.

Immunological response of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients to the Epstein‐Barr‐virus‐coded thymidine kinase expressed in Escherichia coli

“…In both tests, sera from NPC patients were shown to have a high level of antibody to the EBV TK; furthermore, if the tests were designed to detect IgA antibody, then the reaction was specific to sera from NPC patients. These results extend the findings of Turenne-Tessier et al (1989), who showed that sera from NPC patients could neutralize the enzymatic activity of the EBV TK. We describe here a method of detecting IgA antibody to EBV-coded enzymes, which is a valuable combination for diagnosis of NPC.…”

“…There are several reports that EBV-coded enzymes, including the alkaline DNase, DNA polymerase, and more recently the TK, are specifically neutralized by sera from NPC patients (Cheng et al, 1980;Liu et al, 1989;Turenne-Tessier et al, 1989). We were interested to see if the recombinant TK could act as a target in Western blots to detect anti-TK reactivity in sera from NPC patients.…”

“…Several groups have shown that some EBV-coded enzymes, such as the alkaline DNase, DNA polymerase, and more recently the thymidine kinase (which are all components of EA), are specifically neutralized by sera from NPC patients (Cheng et al, 1980;Liu et al, 1989;Turenne-Tessier et al, 1989). This neutralization response has been shown to be a useful diagnostic marker for NPC (Chen et al, 1985(Chen et al, , 1987.…”

Antibody to Epstein-Barr Virus Deoxyuridine Triphosphate Nucleotidohydrolase and Deoxyribonucleotide Polymerase in a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Subset

“…NPC patients may also make antibody to the EBV TK [28]. Patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM), chronic active EBV infection, and patients infected with HIV have elevated antibody titers to EBV-encoded dUTPase [12].…”

“…Patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM), chronic active EBV infection, and patients infected with HIV have elevated antibody titers to EBV-encoded dUTPase [12]. While the unique antibody patterns to these EBV proteins (or other herpes virus proteins) and other EBV-encoded proteins have been found to be clinically useful [1], [28]–[30], the underlying factor(s) that produce these antibody patterns to EBV proteins and the role these proteins might play in the pathophysiology of EBV-associated disease, separate from their role in the replication of the virus, is still being explored. There have not been many studies to determine whether EBV-encoded proteins expressed during lytic and/or abortive-lytic replication have immunoregulatory properties.…”