Induction of EBNA precedes the first cellular S-phase after EBV-infection of human lymphocytes.

Using a combination of immunofluorescence and autoradiography, we studied the appearance of EBNA and DNA synthesis in cord-blood lymphocytes after infection with EBV derived from the B95-8 cell line. EBNA appeared between 12 and 25 h after addition of the virus. DNA synthesis was detected in EBNA-positive cells approximately 20 h after the appearance of EBNA.

Blastogenic response of purified human T-lymphocyte populations to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).

The blastogenic response of T-cell populations to infectious EBV (B95-8 strain) was studied. The addition of virus increased the [3H]thymidine uptake of unfractionated lymphocytes from seropositive and seronegative subjects, and from cord blood, but not from patients with infectious mononucleosis. The same amount of virus evoked a small response in purified T cells from seropositive donors, but not in T cells from the other sources.

Blastogenic response and EBNA induction in human lymphocytes by Epstein-Barr virus only requires B cells but not macrophages.

The postulated role of macrophages in the primary infection of human lymphocytes by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was examined. Macrophage removal had no effect on the blastogenic response but slightly reduced the percentage of EBNA-positive cells induced by the B 95-8 virus strain. Both the rate of DNA synthesis and the appearance of EBNA-positive cells could rather be related to the number of B cells in the infected populations.

Persistence of Epstein-Barr viral nuclear antigen (EBNA) in cells entering the EB viral cycle.

It was shown by double immunofluorescence studies that Epstein-Barr viral nuclear antigen (EBNA) was preserved in EBV-infected cells after they had entered the productive viral cycle, as signalled by the appearance of the early antigen (EA)complex. A nuclear component of the EA comples could be clearly distinguished from EBNA with regard to antigenic specificity.

Studies of Epstein-Barr virus (ebv)-associated nuclear antigen. I. assay in human lymphoblastoid cell lines by direct and indirect determination of 125I-IgG binding.

A quantitative assay for EBNA in human lymphoblastiod cell lines has been developed. The assay employs EBNA-positive and -negative 125-I-IgG preparations as reagents and can be used in a direct or indirect manner. EBNA specificity has been demonstrated in a number of ways.