Serological Profile of Epstein-Barr Virus Infection in Patients with Oral and Laryngeal Cancer

Objective. The purpose of this study was to determine the serological profile of Epstein-Barr virus infection in patients with oral cavity (OCC) and laryngeal (LC) cancer. Material and methods: A total of 48 patients in the study group were examined, with a mean age of 60.3±2.3 years; all were male; 24 patients had OCC (Ia), and 24 patients had LC (Ib). The control groups included 44 patients with hematologic oncology, 59.5±0.9 years old (Group II), and 30 patients without oncological pathology, 30.7±4.7 years old (Group III). All controls underwent IgA/IgM/IgG testing to VCA, IgG to EA, and EBNA using ELISA. The positivity rate (PR) was calculated to assess the intensity of the immune response. Results. Antibodies of classes A, M and/or G to various EBV proteins were present in 100.0% of patients with LC/ OCC: 97.7% of patients with hematologic oncology, and 86.7% (p=0.019) of controls without oncological pathology. IgA VCA in the main group were 2.7 times more common than in group II (50.0% vs 18.2%; p=0.0013) and 2.5 times more common than in group III (50.0% vs 20.0%; p=0.0071). IgG EA were present 2.1 times more often in patients of the main group compared to group II (58.3% vs 27.3%; p1=0.025) and 2.9 times more often compared to group III (58.3% vs 20.0%; p1=0.0008), and a complex of serological markers of active infection in various combinations in patients with LC/OCC was 1.7 times more often than in other study groups (66.7% vs 38.6%; p=0.0013 and 66.7% vs 40.0%; p=0.0071). The most common antibody profile in the main group was IgA VCA+IgG VCA+IgG EA+IgG EBNA (33.3%), characteristic of the reactivation stage of EBV infection. In hematological oncology patients, this profile was 7.4 times less common (4.5%; p=0.0004), and was not observed at all in patients without cancer (p=0.0001). The IgG VCA+IgG EBNA profile, characteristic of the latent stage of EBV, was, in contrast, less common than in both control groups (54.5%; p=0.033) in hematological oncology patients and 46.6% in patients without cancer). Conclusion. Studying not just one antibody class, but a serological profile that includes a combination of antibodies to a wide range of viral proteins, is a promising approach for the formation of risk groups for the development of EBV-associated tumors.
Keywords: laryngeal cancer, oral cavity cancer, serological profile, Epstein–Barr virus, antibodies, seroprevalence
Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Funding. The study was performed without external funding.