Histopathological, Histochemical and Immunohistochemical Study on the Association of Epstein Barr Virus with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the association between Epstein Bar virus (EBV) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma using Immunohistochemical ltechnique and Macchiavell’s stain. One hundred biopsies were randomly collected from patients who attended the radiation and isotopes center in Khartoum (RICK) and presented with nasopharyngeal tumors. Sections were prepared and stained using three different methods: Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) for histopathology, Macchiavello's stain for demonstration of EBV inclusion bodies and immunohistochemistry using monoclonal mouse antigen (DAKO) for detection of EBV latent membrane protein. The patient ages ranged between 16 and 88 years old; 55% of them were males and 45% were females. Histopathologically, 70 (70%) of the cases were diagnosed as nasopharyngeal carcinoma and 30(30%) as benign tumor. EBV antigen was detected by immunohistochemistry in 52(74.3%) of the carcinoma and in 17 (56.7%) of the benign tumor. Intranuclear inclusions (suggesting viral infection) were demonstrated by Macchiavello's stain in 34 (48.6%) of the carcinoma and 14 (46.7%) of the benign tumor sections. This study indicated that infection with Epstein Bar virus may play an important role in the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. No association between family history, age, and sex and nasopharyngeal carcinoma was observed.