Immunohistochemical method for identification of ebstein barr virus Essay

Immunohistochemical method for identification of ebstein barr virus from the tonsil tissue - Essay Example After performing a series of tests on these samples, it was confirmed that none of these patients had any sort of malignancy or Infectious Mononucleosis. Also, almost all of them had antibodies to EBNA indicating that they were not in acute phase of EBV infection. As there is no in vitro natural system for EBV replication, most of the studies have relied upon the semipermissive EBV carrying Burkitt’s lymphoma cell lines. In this technique, various means are used to induce the reproductive cycle of the virus. The EBV gene products obtained as a result include a protein product of the BZLF 1 gene, called as ZEBRA. This protein plays a role in switching the virus from latency to the lytic cycle.Moreover, another protein called as the viral capsid antigen (VCA) is expressed only in the virus producing cells. This one is in close relation with the capsid of the viral particles. Thus keeping the above information in mind, the following study can be understood.This immunohistochemica l detection revealed the expression of ZEBRA and VCA in about 7-10 of a total of 700 tonsillar mononuclear cells. Three of the eight donors showed the cytoplasmic immunoreactivity. Morphologically, these ZEBRA and VCA-positive cells had a resemblance with the lymphocytes. Also, they were found in the same area as the tonsillar mononuclear cells.In order to assess the relationship between the epithelium and EBV lytic proteins, antibodies to ZEBRA, VCA and cytokeratin were obtained and the serial tissue sections were reacted with them.