Epstein-Barr Virus-Related IgA Antibodies Detection Using Elisa-Based Assay for the Early Diagnosis of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma at Dharmais Cancer Hospital

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the fourth most frequent tumor after skin, breast, and cervical cancer in Indonesia (Adham et al., 2012). The majority of NPC patients receive a late diagnosis since the disease's early symptoms are non-specific. Therefore, a biomarker is needed to detect NPC early. Interestingly, NPC onset and progression are highly correlated with Epstein-Bar Virus (EBV) infection. Moreover, compared to healthy individuals and patients with other head and neck disorders, individuals with NPC have higher levels of anti-Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodies, particularly immunoglobulin A (IgA). This study aimed to observe and assess the utilization of ELISA method in Dharmais Cancer Hospital for the detection of EBV infection-related antibodies as a way for early NPC diagnosis. As well as to observe the relationship between age group and gender with EBV seroprevalence of patients. In this study, 51 NPC suspected patients with symptoms undergo the detection of three EBV-associated antibodies using ELISA. This study found that older patients had significantly higher seroprevalence and frequent symptom rates than younger people. Among all antibodies, Anti-EBNA-IgA was found to be the most frequent in all NPC suspected patients. Based on gender, male patients were found to be more susceptible to NPC compared to female.