Is EBV associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma?

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.

What is EBV VCA IgA positive?

A positive serum IgA VCA titer indicates previous repeated infection by the virus or frequent reactivation of latent EBV in B cells. This has been used as a screening tool to identify subjects at high risk of NPC,4,5 as well as being a diagnostic criteria for undifferentiated NPC.

What cell type does EBV cause nasopharyngeal carcinoma in?

The association of EBV with epithelial cell tumors, specifically nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and EBV-positive gastric carcinoma (EBV-GC), is less clear and is currently thought to be caused by the aberrant establishment of virus latency in epithelial cells that display premalignant genetic changes.

What does it mean if your EBV AB VCA IgG is high?

In general, rising VCA-IgG levels tend to indicate an active EBV infection, while falling concentrations tend to indicate a recent EBV infection that is resolving.

Who nasopharyngeal carcinoma classification?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), NPC is classified into 3 subtypes: Keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (WHO type 1) Nonkeratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (WHO type 2) Undifferentiated or poorly differentiated carcinoma, including lymphoepithelioma and anaplastic variants (WHO type 3)

How do you read Epstein Barr results?

Understanding the results

If the antibody called VCA IgG is present, the Epstein-Barr virus has occurred at some time recently or in the past.
If the VCA IgM antibody is present without the Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen (EBNA), the virus is likely to be currently active or occurred very recently.