Epstein-Barr virus-specific leukocyte migration inhibition reaction with tumor biopsy extracts: correlation with the presence of viral DNA

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific leukocyte migration inhibition (LMI) reaction was used to detect EBV antigens in human tumor biopsies in parallel with nuclei acid hybridization for EBV DNA. None of six EBV DNA-negative tumors gave any significant LMI reaction. Fourteen of 17 EBV DNA-positive tumors gave a significant difference between the migration of leukocytes from EBV-seropositive versus -seronegative donors. One tumor gave a borderline reaction. The two-LMI-negatives in this group had only a marginal EBV DNA content. It is suggested that the EBV-specific LMI test may be useful for detecting EBV genomes in tissue and tumor extracts.