ABSTRACT
The genetic structure of EBV LMP1 alleles isolated from tumor, blood, and throat washing samples of 22 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients, 17 patients with other non-EBV-related tumors of the oral cavity, and 19 blood donors have been studied in representatives of Central Russia and the Republics of Northern Caucasus, regions which are non-endemic for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The analysis of the LMP1 alleles collected revealed that they practically matched previously described LMP1 variants; however, some characteristic features were also detected. In particular, the G212S substitution in LMP1 isolates investigated was not observed at all. Tumor samples obtained from nasopharyngeal carcinoma and other tumors of the oral cavity did not differ significantly either in the frequency of "high oncogenic" LMP1 alleles with 10 aa and/or 23 aa deletions (LMP1(China1) and/or LMP1(Med+)), nor in the number of 11 aa repeats and the frequency of 5 aa motif insertions. No differences in the frequency of amino acid substitutions between LMP1 alleles obtained from tumor and throat washing samples of both patient groups were also detected. The data obtained may indicate that in both nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and patients with other tumors of the oral cavity, the EBV strains with similar LMP1 variants are found to persist. This observation allows us to suggest that in non-endemic areas, EBV strains with any LMP1 alleles can initiate the nasopharyngeal carcinoma development but only in those individuals who have a genetic predisposition to the disease and are subjected to specific environmental, and/or dietary factors present in certain geographic areas.
Subject(s)
Genetic Variation , Herpesvirus 4, Human/classification , Herpesvirus 4, Human/genetics , Mouth Neoplasms/virology , Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms/virology , Viral Matrix Proteins/genetics , Amino Acid Sequence , Blood Donors , Carcinoma , Cluster Analysis , Female , Healthy Volunteers , Herpesvirus 4, Human/isolation & purification , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Molecular Sequence Data , Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma , Phylogeny , Russia , Sequence AlignmentSubject(s)
Herpesvirus 8, Human/genetics , Molecular Epidemiology , Sarcoma, Kaposi/epidemiology , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Antibodies, Viral/blood , Female , Herpesvirus 8, Human/classification , Herpesvirus 8, Human/immunology , Herpesvirus 8, Human/isolation & purification , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods , Prevalence , Sarcoma, Kaposi/virology , Sequence Analysis, DNA , Siberia/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Germ cell tumors (GCT) are strictly associated with the expression of HERV-K(HML-2) proviruses, and the majority of GCT patients produce antibodies to structural proteins of these proviruses. The objective of our study was to determine the significance of the serological response to HERV-K(HML-2) Gag and Env proteins for diagnosis, management of GCT patients and estimation of the therapy success. The data document a strong association of HERV-K(HML-2) antibodies and the clinical manifestation of the disease and therapy success. HERV-K(HML-2) antibodies seem to have an important diagnostic value as well as indicator of chemotherapy success.
