The association of genomic variation of Epstein-Barr virus BamHI F fragment with the proliferation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

To investigate the f variant of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in nasopharyngeal carcinogenesis, we detected the f variant in primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), metastatic carcinoma of the lymph node (LN), and chronic inflammation of the nasopharynx from the Guangdong region. Meanwhile, we analyzed the relationship between the f variant of EBV and LMP1, Fascin, pStat3, p53, Bcl-2, and Ki-67 expression in NPC. The results showed that the f variant of EBV was found in 11 cases of primary NPCs with LN metastasis, 12 LN metastases, and 18 primary NPCs without LN metastasis. However, only one demonstrated the F/f variant in 50 cases of chronic inflammation of the nasopharynx. The expression rate of LMP1, Fascin, pStat3, p53, Bcl-2, and Ki-67 in NPC with the f or F/f variant was higher than that with the F prototype. Furthermore, there was a significantly positive correlation between the f variant of EBV and Ki-67 expression (p < 0.05). Our study suggests that the f variant of EBV may be closely related to nasopharyngeal carcinogenesis.