Dataset Information

Fluctuations of epstein-barr virus serological antibodies and risk for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a prospective screening study with a 20-year follow-up.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The impact of variation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibody titers before the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is still unclear. We analyzed the fluctuations of antibodies against EBV before histopathological diagnosis to assess the risk of NPC and aimed to provide a reliable basis for screening in high risk populations.

Methods

This study was based on a population-based screening program in Sihui County in Guangdong Province of China. A total of 18,986 subjects were recruited in 1987 and 1992, respectively. Baseline and repeated serological tests were performed for IgA antibodies against EBV capsid antigen (VCA/IgA) and early antigen (EA/IgA). Follow-up until the end of 2007 was accomplished through linkage with population and health registers. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate the relative risk of NPC in association with EBV antibodies. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was used to further evaluate the predictive ability.

Results

A total of 125 NPCs occurred during an average of 16.9 years of follow-up. Using baseline information alone or together with repeated measurements, serological levels of VCA/IgA and EA/IgA were significantly associated with increased risks for NPC, with a striking dose-response relationship and most prominent during the first 5 years of follow-up. Considering the fluctuant types of serological titers observed during the first three tests, relative risk was highest among participants with ascending titers of EBV VCA/IgA antibodies with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 21.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.1 to 64.1), and lowest for those with decreasing titers (HR?=?1.5, 95% CI 0.2 to 11.4), during the first 5 years of follow-up. Time-dependent ROC analysis showed that VCA/IgA had better predictive performance for NPC incidence than EA/IgA.

Conclusion

Our study documents that elevated EBV antibodies, particularly with ascending titers, are strongly associated with an increased risk for NPC.

SUBMITTER: Cao SM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3081347 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Fluctuations of epstein-barr virus serological antibodies and risk for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a prospective screening study with a 20-year follow-up.

Cao Su-Mei SM Liu Zhiwei Z Jia Wei-Hua WH Huang Qi-Hong QH Liu Qing Q Guo Xiang X Huang Teng-Bo TB Ye Weimin W Hong Ming-Huang MH

PloS one 20110422 4

<h4>Background</h4>The impact of variation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibody titers before the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is still unclear. We analyzed the fluctuations of antibodies against EBV before histopathological diagnosis to assess the risk of NPC and aimed to provide a reliable basis for screening in high risk populations.<h4>Methods</h4>This study was based on a population-based screening program in Sihui County in Guangdong Province of China. A total of 18,986 su ...[more]

PMID: 21544243

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundInfectious mononucleosis after primary infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV-IM) has been linked to the development of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue-syndrome (ME/CFS) in children, adolescents, and young adults. Here, we present clinical phenotypes and follow-up data from a first German cohort of young people with ME/CFS following EBV-IM.Methods12 adolescents and 13 young adults were diagnosed with IM-triggered ME/CFS at our specialized tertiary outpatient service by clinical criteria requiring post-exertional malaise (PEM) and a history of confirmed EBV primary infection as triggering event. Demographic information, laboratory findings, frequency and severity of symptoms, physical functioning, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were assessed and re-evaluated 6 and 12 months later.ResultsYoung adults displayed more severe symptoms as well as worsening of fatigue, physical and mental functioning, and HRQoL throughout the study, compared to adolescents. After one year, 6/12 (54%) adolescents no longer met the diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS while all young adults continued to fulfill the Canadian consensus criteria. Improvement in adolescents was evident in physical functioning, symptom frequency and severity, and HRQoL, while young adults showed little improvement. EBV serology and EBV DNA load did not correlate with distinct clinical features of ME/CFS, and clinical chemistry showed no evidence of inflammation. Remarkably, the median time from symptom onset to ME/CFS diagnosis was 13.8 (IQR: 9.1-34.9) months.ConclusionsME/CFS following EBV-IM is a severely debilitating disease often diagnosed late and with limited responses to conventional medical care, especially in adults. Although adolescents may have a better prognosis, their condition can fluctuate and significantly impact their HRQoL. Our data emphasize that biomarkers and effective therapeutic options are also urgently needed to improve medical care and pave the way to recovery.

Project description:Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is consistently associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in regions in which it is endemic, including Southern China and Southeast Asia. The high mortality rates of NPC patients with advanced and recurrent disease highlight the urgent need for effective treatments. While recent genomic studies have revealed few druggable targets, the unique interaction between the EBV infection and host cells in NPC strongly implies that targeting EBV may be an efficient approach to cure this virus-associated cancer. Key features of EBV-associated NPC are the persistence of an episomal EBV genome and the requirement for multiple viral latent gene products to enable malignant transformation. Many translational studies have been conducted to exploit these unique features to develop pharmaceutical agents and therapeutic strategies that target EBV latent proteins and induce lytic reactivation in NPC. In particular, inhibitors of the EBV latent protein EBNA1 have been intensively explored, because of this protein's essential roles in maintaining EBV latency and viral genome replication in NPC cells. In addition, recent advances in chemical bioengineering are driving the development of therapeutic agents targeting the critical functional regions of EBNA1. Promising therapeutic effects of the resulting EBNA1-specific inhibitors have been shown in EBV-positive NPC tumors. The efficacy of multiple classes of EBV lytic inducers for NPC cytolytic therapy has also been long investigated. However, the lytic-induction efficiency of these compounds varies among different EBV-positive NPC models in a cell-context-dependent manner. In each tumor, NPC cells can evolve and acquire somatic changes to maintain EBV latency during cancer progression. Unfortunately, the poor understanding of the cellular mechanisms regulating EBV latency-to-lytic switching in NPC cells limits the clinical application of EBV cytolytic treatment. In this review, we discuss the potential approaches for improvement of the above-mentioned EBV-targeting strategies.

Dataset Information

Fluctuations of epstein-barr virus serological antibodies and risk for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a prospective screening study with a 20-year follow-up.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Fluctuations of epstein-barr virus serological antibodies and risk for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a prospective screening study with a 20-year follow-up.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets