[The application of quantitative analysis of EBV DNA loads in plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells in Epstein-Barr Virus infection-related diseases in children].

Abstract

Objective: To explore the correlation of EBV DNA load in two different types of plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in children with Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection diseases. Methods: A retrospective evaluated was performed on EBV DNA quantification in plasma and PBMCs by qPCR between April, 2019 and December, 2020. The samples were collected from children of 456 cases with EBV infection and 2 306 healthy cases. In EBV infection group, boys were 253 and girls were 203, aged from 8 days to months to 16 years. In healthy group, boys were 1 267 and girls were 1 039, aged from 8 days to 16 years. Results: Infectious mononucleosis (IM) was the most common disease associated with EBV infection 73.68%(336/456). The detection rate of plasma and PBMCs in EBV infection group was 91.89% (419/456)and 99.34% (453/456)respectively, and was 100%(456/456) in plasma or PBMCs. The detection rate of plasma and PBMCs in healthy group was 1.13%(26/2 306) and 30.01%(715/2 306), respectively. Levels of EBV DNA in plasma and PBMCs in EBV infection group [IM, acute infections, pneumonia, post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, tonsillitis and lymphadenitis] was significantly higher than those in healthy group (In plasma, Z=-47.18,-34.41,-33.40,-31.71,-24.38,-20.86 and -20.59,respectively; In PBMCs, Z=-33.17,-16.45,-11.33,-9.45,-5.57,-5.16 and -5.45, respectively; P<0.05). In IM group, EBV DNA load in plasma and PBMCs in remission stage was significantly lower than those in infection stage (Z=-11.45, -8.53;P<0.05). In PTLD group, there was significant difference in EBV DNA load in plasma between infection and remission stage (Z=-4.13, P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in EBV DNA load in PBMCs (Z=-0.817, P>0.05). Conclusions: EBV infection was mainly caused by IM. Combined detection of plasma and PBMCs in EBV DNA is valuable for improving diagnosis ability of EBV infection-related diseases, and the load of EBV DNA could be used as a marker.