Cell fusion by nasopharyngeal carcinoma-derived Epstein-Barr virus

Cell fusion experiments using Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) obtained from nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) hybrid cells (NPC-KT) were carried out to examine whether human adenoid epithelial cells (Ad-AH) could be fused with lymphoblastoid cells (BJAB, Raji, and A2L) superinfected or infected by EBV, and if Ad-AH nuclei of the fused cells could express EBV-associated nuclear antigen. The presence of NPC EBV could induce EBV early antigen in all three lymphoblastoid cell lines. By autoradiography, we found that NPC EBV could induce cell fusion between Ad-AH cells and tritiated thymidine-labeled lymphoblastoid cells. In addition, we found that Ad-AH nuclei of the fused cells expressed EBV-associated nuclear antigen four days after NPC EBV-mediated cell fusion of Ad-AH cells with lymphoblastoid cells.