CLINICAL LABORATORY DIAGNOSIS OF PATHOLOGY ASSOCIATED WITH THE EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS: CURRENT STATUS AND PROSPECTS (REVIEW OF LITERATURE)

Human herpes virus type 4 or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a widespread virus, one of the eight human herpes viruses, pathogen of widely spread around the world infectious mononucleosis. The role of EBV is proved in the development of such oncological processes as Hodgin’s lymphoma, Burkitt’s lymphoma, gastric carcinoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and aggressive leukemia. A lot of specialists, including oncologists, immunologists, and virologists have encountered many EBV-associated malignancies and lymphoproliferative diseases due to the development of various diagnostic methods. The aim of this review is to compare modern methods of EBV diagnosis: serological and molecular and to reveal the prospects of their application not only for diagnosis, but also for monitoring the effectiveness of EBV-associated tumors treatment. The in situ hybridization (ISH) of EBV-encoded RNA (EBER) in histological material remains the gold standard for EBV detection. The heterophilic antibody test, immunofluorescence assays, enzyme immunoassays, Western blotting, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are used to detect EBV in various types of samples. Detection of key latent EBV proteins such as LMP-1, LMP-2A, EBNA-1 and-2 in tumor biopsies is used to confirm the presence of virus and EBV-associated malignancies. © 2023, Klinichescheskaya Laboratornaya Diagnostika. All rights reserved.