Expression And Clinical Significance Of EBV-LMP1 In Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

ObjectiveTo investigate the expression of Epstein-Barr virus(EBV) latent membrane protein 1(LMP1)in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) specimens and detect the antibody(Ab) level of LMP1 in sera of patients with NPC, and to discuss clinical significance of LMP1 detection in immunologic diagnosis and target treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.MethodsMaxVision immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the expression of LMP1 in 40 nasopharyngeal carcinoma specimens and 30 nasopharyngitis specimens. The relationship between the expression of LMP1 and clinical and pathological features of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was analyzed. The LMP1-Ab level in sera of 23 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, 15 patients with nasopharyngitis and 30 normal adults was detected by ELISA method.ResultsThe positive expression rate of LMP1 in 40 nasopharyngeal carcinoma specimens and 30 nasopharyngitis specimens was 72.50% and 16.67% respectively. There was a significant difference of positive expression rate between two groups (P<0.05). In nasopharyngeal carcinoma group, the positive expression rate of LMP1 was not related to the pathological grade and cervical lymph node metastases(P<0.05). The LMP1-Ab level in sera of patients with NPC was significantly higher than that in sera of normal adults. However, there was no signifcant differenc of LMP1-Ab level between patients with NPC and patients with nasopharyngitis (P>0.05).ConclusionThe expression of LMP1 was higher in nasopharyngeal carcinoma specimens than in nasopharyngitis specimens. The antibody level of LMP1 was higher in NPC sera than in sera of normal adluts. However, there was no significant difference of LMP1-Ab level between NPC sera and nasopharyngitis sera. The results suggested that the LMP1 detection by immunohistochemical technique may be helpful in the diagnosis of NPC. But detection of LMP1-Ab in sera by LMP1 extracellular peptid can only be used to screen the people with EBV infection. There is a possibility of applying LMP1 as a tumor correlated antigen in target treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.