The Epstein-Barr Virus Determined Nuclear Antigen is Composed of at Least Three Different Antigens

The EBV-determined nuclear antigen, EBNA, is the only known viral product to be regularly detected in all EBV-transformed cells. The anticomplement immunofluorescence (ACIF) staining detects an EBV-specific nuclear reaction that has recently been shown to be due to at least 2 different proteins, EBNA-1 and EBNA-2, encoded by different parts of the viral genome. We now report the existence of a third antigen of the EBNA complex, designated as EBNA-3. Serum from a patient with chronic infectious mononucleosis contained no detectable antibodies to EBNA-I and had only a low EBNA-2 antibody level. Nevertheless, it gave an EBV-specific nuclear reaction of normal intensity and stained EBNA-2-positive and EBNA-2-negative EBV-carrying lines equally well. Immunoblotting with the same serum identified a new EBV-specific nuclear protein of 143-157 kDa.