Specific IgA antibody to Epstein-Barr viral capsid antigen: a better marker for screening nasopharyngeal carcinoma than EBV-DNA detection by polymerase chain reaction.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is strongly associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. To assess whether EBV DNA detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or presence of specific serum antibody to viral capsid antigen (VCA) was a better marker for screening NPC, nasopharyngeal tissues and blood samples from 58 NPC patients and 24 non-NPC patients (23 with laryngotracheal stenosis and 1 with chronic tonsillitis) were tested for the presence of EBV DNA and serum specific VCA antibodies, respectively. EBV DNA was detected in 56 (96.5%) of NPC patients and 15 (62.5%) of non-NPC controls, with predominantly EBV type A in both groups. On the other hand, specific VCA IgA antibody was detected in the majority of NPC patients: 52 (89.7%) while only 4 (16.7%) were detected in non-NPC controls. Therefore, specific VCA IgA antibody may serve as a better marker for screening NPC than EBV DNA detected by PCR.

Prevalence of type specific Epstein-Barr virus in the genital tract of genital herpes suspected patients.

A total of 62 clinical specimens from the genital tract of patients who were suspected of contracting genital herpes were investigated for HSV infection by the virus isolation method, and also investigated for the co-infection with EBV infection by detecting EBV DNA using nested PCR. HSV infection was diagnosed in 30 (48.4%) of the study cases, and so was EBV. EBV DNA was present in 17 (56.7%) of the 30 HSV positive samples. No correlation was found between the co-existence of these two viruses together. EBV DNA was detected in genital specimens of cervical, vaginal, urethral, and anal swabs. Ninety per cent of EBV belonged to type 1, and the remainder belonged to type 2 and mixed types. The role of EBV in genital tract infection needs to be further investigated.