Biochemical approaches to detection of Epstein-Barr virus in human tumors

The application of biochemical studies for the detection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-DNA in human tumor cells is discussed. These studies resulted in the consistent demonstration of viral nucleic acid in African Burkitt's lymphoma biopsies and in epithelial tumor cells of nasopharyngeal carcinomas. The viral DNA resides within those cells regularly in multiple copies per cell. Besides these tumors our group detected significant concentrations of EBV-DNA in a German lymphoma patient revealing histological characteristics of Burkitt's lymphoma. Moreover, virus DNA was also found in a patient suffering from immunoblastic lymphadenopathy. More than 50 additional B-cell lymphomas and more than 40 biopsies from patients with Hodgkin's disease did not contain detectable amounts of EBV-DNA when tested by nucleic acid hybridization. A tentative scheme of EBV-induced pathogenesis is discussed.