The vIL-10 gene of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is conserved in a stable manner except for a few point mutations in various EBV isolates.

A gene of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), BamHI-C fragment rightward reading frame 1 (BCRF1), codes viral interleukin-10 (vIL-10), which is a close homolog to human IL-10. EBV strain variations are known at EBV latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1), and the distinct forms of LMP1 have been identified. In order to further elucidate the variations of EBV strains, the BCRF1 (vIL-10) gene was analyzed using PCR-direct sequencing in African Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) cell lines Raji, P3HR-1, EB1 and Daudi, Japanese BL cell line Akata, lymphoblastoid cell line OB and 22 wild EBV isolates from eight gastric carcinoma tissues and 14 throat washes. We found only five variations of the vIL-10 gene in them with one silent mutation and three non-silent mutations. Raji had no mutation to the prototype gene of B95-8. EB1 and P3HR-1 had non-silent mutations in the sequences leading to the arginine/serine and threonine/proline interchanges at residues 4 and 166, respectively. The silent mutation was detected at valine 102 in Daudi and also in the Japanese cell lines Akata, OB and 20 (90.9%) of the wild EBV isolates. The type of variations in the vIL-10 gene had a common relationship with those in the LMP1 gene. All of the variants of valine 102 had China1-type LMP1 sequences except for Daudi with Med-type LMP1 and other minorities with B95-8 type LMP1. The conservativeness of vIL-10 with a few variations suggests the indispensability of the vIL-10 gene in EBV and that the variations of the vIL-10 gene may depend upon the geographical prevalence of the EBV strains. This is the first report regarding the variations of the vIL-10 gene in cell lines and other wild isolates.