Analysis of ulcerative colitis for presence of Epstein-Barr virus DNA sequences by polymerase chain reaction technique

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The purpose of this study is to explore the prevalence of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) in UC patients in comparison with healthy subjects using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.
In this case-control study, five biopsies of patients with UC and 30 healthy people as controls were selected. Sampling was performed by endoscopic biopsy operation. After DNA extraction, PCR was used to determine EBV genome by specific primers. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test.
The results of PCR indicated that EBV genome was detected in 60.0% of samples in the case group, and 36.7% of samples in the control group were positive for EBV. Thus, no significant association was observed between the prevalence of EBV and incidence of UC in comparison with the control group (P = 0.36).
The findings presented herein demonstrate no direct molecular evidence to support an association of EBV with UC. These results, do not exclude the possibility oncogenic role of EBV to infect the different colon cell.