Antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus-specific DNase in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and control groups

✍ Scribed by Jen-Yang Chen; Chien-Jen Chen; Mei-Ying Liu; Show-Mei Cho; Mow-Ming Hsu; Tsong-Chou Lynn; Ti Shieh; Shieh-Mien Tu; Hong-Hsin Lee; Shiow-Ling Kuo; Ming-Yang Lai; Chang-Yao Hsieh; Cheng-Po Hu; Czau-Siung Yang

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 660 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.1890230103

✦ Synopsis

Serum samples from 154 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), 374 with other cancers, 1,000 normal controls from Government Employees' Clinic Center (GECC), and 3,642 individuals of various ethnic-dialect groups living in high-risk areas for NPC were collected and the concentration of antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific DNase activity was determined. Taking a serum sample where 1 ml will neutralize two or more units of the DNase activity as positive, 2 4 units as low level, 446 units as medium level, and more than 6 units as a high level of antibody, 90.3% of the NPC patients contained significant amounts of antibodies to EBVspecific DNase activity and most of those had high levels of the antibody. In contrast, only 11% of sera from patients with cancers other than NPC contained antibodies to EBV-specific DNase activity, and high levels were very rare (2.1%). The difference in positive rates between these two groups is highly significant according to the xz test (P < 0.001). The positive rate of this antibody in the control group (GECC) was 5.3% with 0.076, 0.8%, and 4.5% having high, medium, and low levels of antibodies, respectively. Again, the difference in positive rates between the GECC group and the NPC group is statistically significant (P < 0,001).

Taken separately, the positive rates of anti-EBV DNase activity in the three high-risk groups were 11.7%, 13.0%, and 13.1%. No significant difference in age distribution for the levels of this antibody was observed in the control GECC group or the three high-risk groups. However, the positive rates of the three high-risk groups are more than twice those of the GECC group (11.7% -13.1% vs 5.3%). This ratio coincides with the ratio of the probability of developing NPC in high-risk groups