| Literature DB >> 15510157 |
Lawrence S Young1, Alan B Rickinson.
Abstract
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was discovered 40 years ago from examining electron micrographs of cells cultured from Burkitt's lymphoma, a childhood tumour that is common in sub-Saharan Africa, where its unusual geographical distribution - which matches that of holoendemic malaria -indicated a viral aetiology. However, far from showing a restricted distribution, EBV - a gamma-herpesvirus - was found to be widespread in all human populations and to persist in the vast majority of individuals as a lifelong, asymptomatic infection of the B-lymphocyte pool. Despite such ubiquity, the link between EBV and 'endemic' Burkitt's lymphoma proved consistent and became the first of an unexpectedly wide range of associations discovered between this virus and tumours.Entities:
Mesh：
Substances：
Year: 2004 PMID： 15510157 DOI： 10.1038/nrc1452
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Nat Rev Cancer ISSN： 1474-175X Impact factor: 60.716