Epstein-Barr Virus Antibody Response Patterns in Endemic and Nonendemic Cases of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) causes most nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a malignancy endemic in certain regions, presenting with nonspecific symptoms and lacking a robust minimally invasive biomarker. To assess previously developed multiplex Luminex assay EBV antibody signatures in a nonendemic population, we analyzed and compared 98 NPC sera and 142 matched controls from the nonendemic Head and Neck 5000 clinical cohort against an endemic Taiwan case-control cohort. All models, except the 2-antibody IgA panel, performed similarly, achieving 90%-99% accuracy in identifying EBV-positive NPC. Our results showed that EBV antibody panels can accurately define EBV-positive NPC regardless of endemicity.