Novel nuclear antigens recognized by human sera in lymphocytes latently infected by Epstein-Barr virus.

We have used three latently infected cell lines, X50-7, JC-5, and Raji, to identify two new nuclear antigen complexes by Western immunoblotting with human anti-EBNA (Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen) sera. One antigen complex, termed EBNA III, is composed of a group of high molecular weight proteins between 130 and 160 kDa and the other antigen complex, termed EBNA IV, is a size-related group of polypeptides between 28 and 62 kDa. Both the EBNA III and EBNA IV groups of proteins display variation in size among the different strains of EBV. Cell fractionation of X50-7, JC-5, Raji, and C16, a cell clone of P3HR1, showed that both new antigen complexes were completely recovered from the nuclei of latently infected lymphocytes as were previously described EBNA I and II. Because these new antigens are only detected by anti-EBNA sera in EBV infected cells, it seems likely that they may be encoded by the viral genome and play some role in the immortalization of lymphocytes by the virus.