Description
The oral cavity is the persistent reservoir for EBV with lifelong infection of resident epithelial and B cells. Infection of these cell types results in distinct EBV gene expression patterns that are regulated by epigenetic modifications involving DNA methylation and chromatin structure. Such regulation of EBV gene expression relies on viral manipulation of the host epigenetic machinery that may inadvertently result in long-lasting, oncogenic host epigenetic reprogramming. To test this hypothesis in the context of EBV infection of epithelial cells, we established a transient infection model to identify the epigenetic consequences after EBV infection of immortalized normal oral keratinocytes and subsequent viral loss.