Background & objective: The strategy of gene therapy on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is determined by the characteristics of proliferation cycle of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in different histological types of NPC cells. This study was to investigate the characteristics of proliferation cycle of EBV in NPC cell line CNE2.
Methods: CNE2 cells were co-cultivated with marmoset lymphocyte line B95-8, which was EBV-positive. Then B95-8 cells were removed by cytotoxic test of complement activation. The initial infection state of EBV in CNE2 cells was analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Southern hybridization.
Results: CNE2 cells were infected with EBV by cell-to-cell contacting. The transcription of BZLF1, the symbol gene for EBV lytic phase, maintained 12 days on average. The transcription of EBV-encoded small RNA (EBER), the symbol gene for EBV infectious phase, maintained 22 days on average.
Conclusions: After invading CNE2 cells, most EBV initially might be at lytic phase, then switch to the relatively stable latent phase, and finally be lost due to cell culture and passage.