Epstein-Barr Virus Genotypes and Phylogeny among Cancer Patients in Sana'a City, Yemen

Abstract

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous virus that infects more than 90% of the world's population. It is a tumorigenic herpes virus that causes infectious mononucleosis (IM) and has been linked to the development of several malignant tumours such as Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, Nasopharyngeal carcinoma and Gastric carcinoma. This study was designed to detect EBV DNA and to identify the EBV genotypes and phylogeny among cancer patients' group (Case) and healthy individuals' group (Control) in Sana'a city, Yemen. One hundred subjects were enrolled in the study. Fifty individuals were clinically diagnosed to have cancer. The remaining 50 individuals were healthy controls. Serum IgM antibody against EBV viral capsid antigen (VCA) were tested by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).EBV-DNA detection was done using conventional polymerase chain reaction while genotyping and sub-genotyping were performed by Nested polymerase chain reaction of EBNA-2 gene and LMP-1 gene, respectively. Results showed that the prevalence rate of EBV-VCA IgM antibodies among cancer patients was 12% while in healthy individuals was 8%. EBV-DNA positivity were 66.7% (4/6) and 50% (2/4) for cancer patients (cases) and controls, respectively. Also, all EBV-DNA positive cases in both cancer patients and controls were genotype 1 and sub-genotype Med with a rate of 100% both of them. The results presented genotypes and sub-genotype of EBV circulating in Sana'a city. It is worth mentioning that genotype 1 and Med-strain was first time recorded in Yemen. This study concluded that genotype 1 and Med-strain being predominant in Sana'a city, Yemen. Clinical significance of these finding have not been investigated and shall be evaluated in future studies