RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 zur Hausen, Axel A1 van Beek, Josine A1 Bloemena, Elisabeth A1 ten Kate, Fiebo J. A1 Meijer, Chris J. L. M. A1 van den Brule, Adriaan J. C.YR 2003 T1 No role for Epstein–Barr virus in Dutch hepatocellular carcinoma: a study at the DNA, RNA and protein levels JF Journal of General Virology, VO 84 IS 7 SP 1863 OP 1869 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.19217-0 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2099, AB Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) has been suggested to play a role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, reports on detailed EBV transcript analyses in HCCs are limited. It was shown recently that expression of the transforming BARF1 (BamHI A rightward open reading frame 1) gene of EBV is restricted to latently EBV-infected epithelial malignancies, i.e. nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gastric carcinoma. The aim of this study was to test the presence of EBV in Dutch HCCs. A semiquantitative DNA PCR-enzyme immunoassay (PCR-EIA) for the BamHI W fragment of EBV was used to assess the presence of EBV in frozen and paraffin-embedded tissues of 16 HCCs. In addition, several RNA detection techniques, i.e. nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA), RT-PCR, RNA in situ hybridization (RISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC), were applied. Five of 16 HCCs and two of four hepatitis C virus hepatitis samples were weakly positive for EBV DNA by PCR-EIA. Using sensitive RNA transcription techniques, no transcripts were found for BARF1, EBNA-1 and BARTs (BamHI A rightward transcripts) in any of the liver tissues tested. In addition, RISH for EBER1/2 and BARTs and IHC for EBNA-1, LMP-1 and ZEBRA, performed on the paraffin-embedded tissue of the PCR-EIA-positive cases and on adjacent non-neoplastic liver tissues, were negative. The absence of epithelial-specific BARF1 transcripts and other EBV transcripts and proteins in the EBV DNA PCR-positive cases argues strongly against a role for EBV in HCC., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.19217-0