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Immunology

Sinking surveillance's flagship

Nature volume 395, pages 441–443 (1998)Cite this article

Highly transforming viruses such as EBV that infect most individuals of their host species have selected their hosts for the virtually watertight protection they provide against the development of virally driven tumours, while permitting the survival and propagation of the virus. EBV and its close relatives are found in all Old World (but not New World) primates; so coexistence of virus and host is of ancient standing, and it is safeguarded at many levels. In healthy EBV carriers, the virus hides largely, if not exclusively, in the immune system, particularly in B cells, which are also its main transformation target. Equilibrium is maintained by a finely poised balance between the regulation of viral gene expression and the immune system, particularly T cells (see ref. 3 for review).

That equilibrium can be upset by infections (for instance with HIV), or clinical or inherited impairment of the immune system. This may lead to the fatal form of infectious mononucleosis (glandular fever); or to progressively growing immunoblast cells that may turn into monoclonal lymphoma, malignant tumours of the lymph nodes. But immune control of EBV-transformed immunoblasts is remarkably robust. For example, the immune systems of transplant patients are strongly suppressed by drugs, but only a minority of recipients develop lymphoproliferative disease; even then they can sometimes be successfully treated by the infusion of appropriate T cells.

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Figure 1: Particles of Epstein-Barr virus, ×58,000.

M. A. EPSTEIN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

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  1. the Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center, Karolinska Institute, PO Box 280, S-171 77, Stockholm, Sweden

    George Klein & Eva Klein

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  1. George Klein
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  2. Eva Klein
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Klein, G., Klein, E. Sinking surveillance's flagship. Nature 395, 441–443 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/26626

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