High prevalence of the EBER variant EB-8m in endemic nasopharyngeal carcinomas

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded small RNAs (EBERs) are the most highly expressed transcripts in all EBV-associated tumors and are involved in both lymphoid and epithelioid carcinogenesis. Our previous study on Chinese isolates from non-endemic area of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) identified new EBER variants (EB-8m and EB-10m) which were less common but relatively more frequent in NPC cases than healthy donors. In the present study, we determined the EBER variants in NPC cases and healthy donors from endemic and non-endemic areas of NPC within China and compared the EBER variants, in relation to the genotypes at BamHI F region (prototype F and f variant), between population groups and between two areas. According to the phylogenetic tree, four EBER variants (EB-6m, EB-8m, EB-10m and B95-8) were identified. EB-6m was dominant in all population groups except for endemic NPC group, in which EB-8m was dominant. EB-8m was more common in endemic NPC cases (82.0%, 41/50) than non-endemic NPC cases (33.7%, 32/95) (p<0.0001), and it was also more frequent in healthy donors from endemic area (32.4%, 24/74) than healthy donors from non-endemic area (1.1%, 1/92) (p<0.0001). More importantly, the EB-8m was more prevalent in NPC cases than healthy donors in both areas (p<0.0001). The f variant, which has been suggested to associate with endemic NPC, demonstrated preferential linkage with EB-8m in endemic isolates, however, the EB-8m variant seemed to be more specific to NPC isolates than f variant. These results reveal high prevalence of EBER EB-8m variant in endemic NPC cases, suggesting an association between NPC development and EBV isolates carrying EB-8m variant. Our finding identified a small healthy population group that shares the same viral strain which predominates in NPC cases. It could be interesting to carry extensive cohort studies following these individuals to evaluate the risk to develop NPC.