[Epstein-Barr virus infection in the development of human tumors]

Abstract

The Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is the only infectious agent for which a close association with human malignant tumors has been clearly demonstrated. These tumors are one type of nasopharyngeal carcinoma which is frequent in parts of East Asia and the Burkitt lymphoma which predominantly occurs in parts of Africa and New Guinea. Nonetheless, the EBV is the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis (IM), a benign, self-limiting lymphoproliferative disease of adolescents. The major difference between the countries in which the EBV-induced tumors occur and those in which IM occurs is the late primary EBV infection in the latter, whereas primary infection with EBV occurs in the first year of life in the former. All theories of viral carcinogenesis have to explain the long latency period between primary infection and tumor growth and how an ubiquitous virus may be oncogenic. Thus, invariably, one has to assume a role of cofactors, which may be of cytogenetic nature or may be represented by additional infections or by chemical agents. Since most modern theories of carcinogenesis consider a multi-step development of tumors, the theory that infection with an ubiquitous virus at the right time of life represents one step to carcinogenesis seems to be tenable.