Three Restricted Forms Of Epstein-Barr Virus Latency Counteracting Apoptosis In C-Myc Expressing Burkitt Lymphoma Cells

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is aetiologically linked with Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) but its contribution to lymphomagenesis, versus that of the chromosomal translocation activating c-myc expression, remains unclear. This is in part because the full virus growth transforming programme that is expressed when EBV infects normal resting B cells, is not expressed in BL. Instead EBV in BL normally exhibits a restricted Latency I form of infection characterised by expression of only one latent antigen EBNA1 from the BamHI Q promoter. Here we describe an endemic BL, Awia, which uniquely is heterogeneous at the single cell level for EBV gene expression. Analysis of single cell clones of Awia-BL revealed cells displaying three forms of restricted EBV latency: