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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Establishment of Epstein-Barr Virus Growth-transformed Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines
Published on: November 8, 2011
CD21-independent Epstein-Barr virus entry into NK cells
Jeong Hoo Lee1, Jahyang Choi1, Yong-Oon Ahn2
1Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University, Daehak-ro 101, Jongro-gu, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
Extranodal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma is an aggressive malignant disease that is associated with Epstein-Barr viral (EBV) infection. To date, the mechanism of viral entry into NK cells remains uncertain. Here, we investigated this mechanism using human NK cells in vitro. CD21 mRNA expression, an EBV-entry receptor, was transiently detected in NK cells after exosome treatment, and levels decreased after further culture. CD21 protein expression was also transiently transferred to NK cells after co-culture with an EBV-positive Burkitt lymphoma cell line (Raji) via trogocytosis. However, EBV did not infect NK cells through CD21-mediated trogocytosis. Unexpectedly, when NK cell leukemia cells, as well as primary NK cells, were treated with viral supernatant, EBV genes, but not RNA, were detected in the NK cells, at latency stage 0. Therefore, these results suggest that EBV-NK cell infection results from the direct transfer of viral episomes, independent of EBV-positive B cells.
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