[LMP1 gene variants of Epstein-Barr virus in patients with some lymphoproliferative malignancies]

The samples of tumor biopsy, blood, and saliva from 10 patients with Hodgkin's disease, 10 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and the blood samples of 20 donors were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for standard (wild) B95-8 and Cao-like (deleted) variants of the LMP1 gene. The paraffin sections of most PCR-tested tumors were also investigated by immunohistochemistry using the monoclonal antibodies S12 or 7D7 to detect the expression of the standard or Cao-like variants of LMP1 protein, respectively. It is suggested that Eptein-Barr virus (EBV) that contains the above deletion is not crucial for the development of the study lymphoproliferative malignancies. The fact that in some cases there is the Cao-like variant of LMP1 in the tumor biopsy specimen and its standard variant LMP1-B95-8 in the biological fluids of the same patient is very likely to suggest that the patient is infected with both types of the virus or there is genetic mutation(s) of EBV during viral carcinogenesis preceding or accompanying the development of a tumor.