Epstein-Barr virus DNA detection in gingival tissues of patients undergoing surgical extractions

The main oral manifestation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is hairy leukoplakia, a lesion associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and occasionally in other immunocompromised patients. However, the recent literature describes the presence of viral genome in clinically normal oral tissues. The purpose of this work was to investigate these occult EBV infections in gingival epithelium. The Southern blot method with 32P-radiolabelled DNA probes under stringent conditions was applied to 20 interproximal gingival papillae specimens and revealed homologous EBV sequences in 4 of 10 AIDS patients as well as in 4 of 10 HIV negative patients. In order to determine whether EBV has a predilection for the gingival tissues, samples of nasal, laryngeal and oral mucosa, other than gingival mucosa, were collected from 10 HIV-negative patients undergoing surgical treatment for a variety of clinical conditions. None of these extra-periodontal mucosal specimens contained homologous EBV DNAs, except an edentulous palatal gingival specimen. With the present detection of EBV DNAs in the gingival tissues of patients undergoing surgical extractions, it would be of interest to investigate more systematically these subclinical infections in order to determine their exact implications in oral disease.