Out-of-Africa migration and clonal expansion of a recombinant Epstein-Barr virus drives frequent nasopharyngeal carcinoma in southern China

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: While Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is ubiquitous globally, a high-risk EBV subtype associated with the extremely high incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) was found in southern China, but the evolution history of EBV in humans and the origin of this high-risk subtype remains enigmatic. By obtaining one of the largest datasets of EBV genomes across the world, we found that EBV had an evolutionary history matching the out-of-Africa migration of humans. Within the high-risk subtype from southern China, we identified a rapidly expanding clonal strain originating from a recombination event between EBV strains from northern and southern Chinese around 4000 years ago, followed by strong Darwinian evolution with a fitness advantage of 4%. The clonal strain has almost doubled the risk for NPC compared to the high-risk subtype and explained around 66% of the NPCs, representing the highest risk factor for NPC identified so far. Taken together, we unraveled a strong co-evolution history between EBV and humans where human migration and admixture triggered subsequent recombination and expansion of a highly advantageous EBV strain, leading to a cancer epidemic in southern China.

Source: National Science Review

DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwae438

Authors: Xinyi Zhang, Yanhong Chen, Jingtong Liang, Yue Yang, Hui Chen, Zehui Chen, Minhao Li, Shuanghui Chen, Tingting Chen, Haopeng He, Yunsong Liu, Zhiyuan Liu, Lu Han, Dafei Wu, Zhengting Zou, Yanhua Qu, Mingkun Li, Mark Stoneking, Qiaomei Fu, Shuhua Xu, Yi-Xin Zeng, Liang Ma, Jianjun Liu, Miao Xu, Weiwei Zhai

Institutions: Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Zoology, Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Genome Institute of Singapore, Sun Yat-sen University, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, MGI, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, University of Pennsylvania, Fudan University, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Language: English

Topic: Viral-associated cancers and disorders

Subfield: Oncology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,100

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Key Research and Development Program of China

OpenAlex ID: W4404860609