Nasopharyngeal carcinoma. X. Presence of Epstein‐Barr genomes in separated epithelial cells of tumours in patients from Singapore, Tunisia and Kenya

Abstract

Abstract Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) biopsies from Singapore, Tunisia and Kenya were compared, before and after separation of epithelial and lymphoid cells, for their EBV‐DNA content, using the cellular DNA‐EBV‐cRNA hybridization test. In all instances where successful separation of the two cell types was achieved, epithelial tumour cells showed a higher EBV‐DNA content than lymphoid cells or tumour before cell separation. It is, therefore, suggested that EBV‐DNA is mostly limited to epithelial cells. No significant difference was observed between NPC tumours originating from various geographical areas.