Lytic replication of Epstein-Barr virus in the peripheral blood: analysis of viral gene expression in B lymphocytes during infectious mononucleosis and in the normal carrier state.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been shown to establish latency in resting B lymphocytes of the peripheral blood. This creates a virus reservoir in contrast to lytic virus replication, which is thought to be restricted to differentiated epithelial cells in vivo. So far, the route of transmission between B cells and the production of progeny virus in the epithelial tissue has remained unclear. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry analysis of 16 patients with acute infectious mononucleosis (IM) and 25 healthy seropositive donors was performed to detect lytic replication gene products in B lymphocytes of the peripheral blood. Transcriptional activity was found in peripheral blood B lymphocytes (PBLs) for BZLF1 in 88%, BALF2 in 50%, and BcLF1 in 25% of the tested IM patients. All positive results were further confirmed in enriched B-cell populations by antigen determination using immunostaining with the APAAP technique. Furthermore, we detected transcripts for BZLF1 in 72% and for BALF2 in 16% of peripheral B lymphocytes of healthy seropositive donors. In contrast to patients with IM, no signals for BcLF1 were ever found in healthy seropositive donors. In these individuals, lytic replication of EBV is probably restricted by immunologic and gene regulatory mechanisms, whereas in the absence of immunologic control, reflected here by IM patients, the production of infectious virus becomes visible in PBLs.