Detection of an epstein‐barr‐virus variant in T‐cell‐lymphoma tissues identical to the distinct strain observed in nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the taiwanese population

An EBV variant has been identified in NPC tissues in Taiwan. This EBV variant contains a point mutation in exon I of the LMP I gene. This mutation results in the loss of an Xhol site at nt 169,426, which is present in strain B9S‐8. In addition, this variant contains a 30‐bp deletion in exon 3 of the gene. The recent demonstration of the prevalence of EBV‐containing nasal and peripheral T‐cell lymphoma in this region drove us to evaluate the presence of this NPC‐EBV strain in 7 cases of T‐cell lymphoma, as well as in 48 NPC tissues, 2 cases of Hodgkin's disease and I B‐cell lymphoma. Four samples of normal lymph‐ node tissue, 40 of normal nasopharynx tissue and 78 throat washings of healthy individuals were included for comparison. We used sequence‐specific primers and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to amplify LMP I gene fragments containing these variations. Mutations were then confirmed by restriction‐enzyme digestion and the DNA sequencing analysis. Our results showed that 57 of 58 tumor‐tissues samples were EBV‐positive. Among them, 56, including 6 T‐cell‐lymphoma samples, belonged to the NPC strain. This strain of EBV was also present in 92% of EBV‐positive normal nasopharynx tissues and in 84% of EBV‐positive throat washings of the healthy individuals tested. These results suggest that the NPC‐EBV strain is prominently present in Taiwan. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.