Sequence analysis of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) BRLF1 gene in nasopharyngeal and gastric carcinomas

Background Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has a biphasic infection cycle consisting of a latent and a lytic replicative phase. The product of immediate-early gene BRLF1, Rta, is able to disrupt the latency phase in epithelial cells and certain B-cell lines. The protein Rta is a frequent target of the EBV-induced cytotoxic T cell response. In spite of our good understanding of this protein, little is known for the gene polymorphism of BRLF1.