Epstein-Barr virus infection and variants of Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-1 in synovial　tissues of rheumatoid arthritis.

Abstract

ObjectiveThe objective of the present study was to investigate Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection as an environmental factor for the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).MethodsSynovial tissues were collected during surgery from 128 RA and 98 osteoarthritis (OA) patients. DNA was extracted from synovial tissues. The EBV gene was assessed by nested PCR for the amplification of EBV nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1). The nucleotide sequence of the PCR product was elucidated. HLA-DRB1 genotyping was also performed.ResultsEBV DNA was more frequently detected in the synovial tissues of RA patients (32.8%) than OA patients (15.3%) (pDiscussionThe present results indicate that EBV infection contributes to the onset of RA and chronic inflammation in synovial tissues. The frequency of EBNA-1 gene variants was low and not significantly different between RA and OA, suggesting that EBNA-1 gene variants are not a risk factor for RA. HLA-DRB1 with SE is a genetic risk factor for the development of RA. However, neither the presence of EBV nor EBNA-1 gene variants differed between SE-positive and -negative RA patients. Therefore, these two risk factors, SE and EBV, may be independent.ConclusionEBV infection may be an environmental risk factor for the development of RA, while nucleotide variants of EBNA-1 do not appear to contribute to its development.