[LMP1 gene polymorphism in patients with Epstein-Barr virus-negative gastric carcinomas in Russia].

The investigation was undertaken to study the molecular characteristics of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) LMP1 gene samples amplified from the tumor and intact tissues of patients with EBV-negative forms of gastric carcinoma (GC). The genetic structure of these samples determined by their sequencing was compared with that of the gene samples isolated from the cells of oropharyngeal washing specimens from the same patients with GC, as well as peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) and blood donors. The findings suggest that the samples of tumor tissue LMP1 from patients with GC have higher divergence than those from patients with IM and blood donors although no specific variants of the gene for GC were found.

[Mutations of the Epstein-Barr virus LMP1 gene mutations in Russian patients with lymphoid pathology and healthy individuals].

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an etiological agent of a number of benign and malignant human diseases, such as infectious mononucleosis (IM), Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). EBV latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) gene (recognized as a viral oncoprotein) of various clinical and geographical origin was found to have different types of amino acid mutations affecting its biological activity. Since there was no information on the strain differences in LMP1 of EBV persisting in Russia, the authors made a sequence analysis of LMP1 samples amplified from the biological materials of Russian patients with IM, HL, and NHL and healthy individuals.

[LMP1 gene variants of Epstein-Barr virus in patients with some lymphoproliferative malignancies].

The samples of tumor biopsy, blood, and saliva from 10 patients with Hodgkin's disease, 10 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and the blood samples of 20 donors were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for standard (wild) B95-8 and Cao-like (deleted) variants of the LMP1 gene. The paraffin sections of most PCR-tested tumors were also investigated by immunohistochemistry using the monoclonal antibodies S12 or 7D7 to detect the expression of the standard or Cao-like variants of LMP1 protein, respectively. It is suggested that Eptein-Barr virus (EBV) that contains the above deletion is not crucial for the development of the study lymphoproliferative malignancies.

[Molecular biological and clinical-morphological studies of gastric tumors associated with Epstein-Barr virus].

The paper presents the results of the studies of gastric cancer (GC) associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) among the patients residing in 4 geographical regions. In situ hybridization (ISH) techniques revealed that 49(11.4%) of the 430 examinees were EBV positive (EBV+), the virus-specific marker mRNA-1 of EBV, EBER-1) was found to be present in 80-100) of tumor cells.

Sero-epidemiologic and phylogenetic studies of HTLV-I infection in 2 countries of the Caspian Sea region.

Phylogenetic analysis of HTLV-I variants persisting among population of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Georgia (situated on both sides of the Caspian Sea, not far from a known HTLV-I cluster in Northern Iran) has been carried out. HTLV-I isolates from the above countries were obtained in the course of seroepidemiological investigations. In all, 1,510 blood-donor samples from Turkmenistan and 47 blood samples from hematological patients from Georgia, were tested with different screening and confirmatory assays, including commercial ones.