OBJECTIVESTo examine the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in primary lung carcinoma tissue, and to investigate the relationship between EBV infection and tumorigenesis of lung cancer.

METHODSFormalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded lung tissue specimens from surgically resected lung carcinoma tissues of 108 cases treated in Tanshan area from 2001 to 2006, which were confirmed further by histopathological examination after hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, were used to observe the EBV encoded RNA-1 (EBER1) using in situ hybridization (ISH).

RESULTSEBER1 was detected in 36 of the 108 primary lung carcinoma cases, and in 1 of the 22 normal lung tissues. The positive rates of EBV infection in squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, small cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma were 35.9%, 31.6% 31.0%, 1/2, respectively. Gender, age and clinicohistopathological type were not found to have any correlation with EBER1 expression, but EBER1 expression in groups of cases with poorly and moderately differentiated carcinomas was significantly higher than those in the group of cases with well differentiated carcinoma, and the EBER1 expression in the right lung was higher than in the left lung.

CONCLUSIONSThe frequency of EBV infection in this series of patients from Tangshan area was 33.3%, the results suggest that there is a relationship between EBV infection and the occurrence of the primary lung carcinoma, EBV infection might be one of the potential causes to induce lung cancer.