{"entity":{"id":"plasma-ebv-dna","kind":"term","name":"Plasma EBV DNA","aka":[],"tldr":"Fragments of Epstein-Barr virus DNA in the blood that measure nasopharyngeal carcinoma: used to screen healthy people in endemic regions, to stage, to decide who needs extra treatment after radiotherapy, and to detect relapse.","summary":"Quantitative PCR for EBV BamHI-W or EBNA1 sequences in plasma (Lo, 1999) correlates with tumour burden and stage in EBV-associated NPC. Uses: (1) screening: a two-stage plasma EBV DNA test in 20,174 Hong Kong men detected NPC at earlier stage with better survival (Chan, NEJM 2017); (2) prognosis: pretreatment level is independent of TNM and incorporated in proposed staging; (3) response: detectable EBV DNA after chemoradiation identifies high-risk patients who benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy (NRG-HN001 trial design; Chen 2021 capecitabine); (4) surveillance: rising levels precede clinical relapse by months. Standardisation across laboratories (harmonised assays) remains a challenge; NGS-based fragmentomic assays improve specificity. It is the template for ctHPV DNA in oropharyngeal cancer.","asOf":"2026-09-08","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein-Barr_virus","links":[{"label":"Chan 2017 screening (NEJM)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1701717"},{"label":"Young and Rickinson, Nat Rev Cancer 2004: Epstein-Barr virus, 40 years on","url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc1452"}],"tags":["gap-fill","biomarker"],"related":["nasopharyngeal","cthpv-dna","liquid-biopsy","ctdna"],"cancers":["hodgkin-lymphoma","peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma","non-hodgkin-lymphoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["sysucc"],"pathways":[],"terms":["ctdna","lymphoma-bio-ebv-latency"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-chan-n-engl-j-med"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Lymphoma: what a plasma EBV DNA level means depends on which latency programme the tumour is running, because that decides how much viral DNA is shed and how visible the cell is to T cells. It is used to follow response in extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma and in post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder, where reducing immunosuppression is the first treatment (Young and Rickinson 2004)."],"category":"Biomarkers"},"route":"/terms/plasma-ebv-dna/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"extranodal-nk-t-cell-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma","route":"/cancers/extranodal-nk-t-cell-lymphoma/"},{"id":"hodgkin-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Hodgkin lymphoma","route":"/cancers/hodgkin-lymphoma/"},{"id":"locoregionally-advanced-nasopharyngeal-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (stage III to IVA)","route":"/cancers/locoregionally-advanced-nasopharyngeal-carcinoma/"},{"id":"nasopharyngeal","kind":"cancer","name":"Nasopharyngeal carcinoma","route":"/cancers/nasopharyngeal/"},{"id":"non-hodgkin-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types)","route":"/cancers/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/"},{"id":"peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma)","route":"/cancers/peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma/"},{"id":"post-transplant-lymphoproliferative-disorder","kind":"cancer","name":"Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD)","route":"/cancers/post-transplant-lymphoproliferative-disorder/"},{"id":"recurrent-metastatic-nasopharyngeal-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma","route":"/cancers/recurrent-metastatic-nasopharyngeal-carcinoma/"}],"technology":[{"id":"cthpv-dna","kind":"technology","name":"Circulating tumour HPV DNA (ctHPV-DNA)","route":"/technologies/cthpv-dna/"},{"id":"liquid-biopsy","kind":"technology","name":"Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)","route":"/technologies/liquid-biopsy/"}],"term":[{"id":"ctdna","kind":"term","name":"Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA)","route":"/terms/ctdna/"},{"id":"ebv-term","kind":"term","name":"Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in cancer","route":"/terms/ebv-term/"},{"id":"lymphoma-bio-ebv-latency","kind":"term","name":"Epstein-Barr virus latency programmes, and why they decide which lymphoma","route":"/terms/lymphoma-bio-ebv-latency/"},{"id":"head-neck-subsites","kind":"term","name":"Head and neck subsites (oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx)","route":"/terms/head-neck-subsites/"}],"institution":[{"id":"prince-of-wales-hospital-cuhk","kind":"institution","name":"Prince of Wales Hospital / Chinese University of Hong Kong","route":"/institutions/prince-of-wales-hospital-cuhk/"},{"id":"queen-mary-hospital-hku","kind":"institution","name":"Queen Mary Hospital / University of Hong Kong","route":"/institutions/queen-mary-hospital-hku/"},{"id":"sysucc","kind":"institution","name":"Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/sysucc/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-chan-n-engl-j-med","kind":"paper","name":"Analysis of Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus DNA to Screen for Nasopharyngeal Cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-chan-n-engl-j-med/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"oncogenic-viruses","kind":"pathway","name":"Oncogenic viruses","route":"/pathways/oncogenic-viruses/"}]}}