The application of recombinant DNA technology to the analysis of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is rapidly developing sufficient insight into the virus-host interaction, so that its role in disease pathology is now often discernible and can increasingly be interdicted. In Epstein-Barr Virus Protocols, Joanna Wilson and Gerhard May have assembled a collection of the key molecular biology protocols used in the analysis of Epstein-Barr virus, along with a series of valuable immunology, cell biology, and transgenic mouse protocols. Described in step-by-step detail by experts who use them regularly, these readily reproducible techniques include methods for gene expression with mini-EBV plasmids, for expression analysis by FISH, for EBV detection and quantitation, and for cell proliferation and death assays. In addition, the authors provide information on EBV-based vectors, an up-to-date map of EBV, a comprehensive table of available latent protein antisera, and assays from in vitro to cell to organ to organism levels.
Timely and highly practical, Epstein-Barr Virus Protocols provides powerful tools for elucidating the life cycle of EBV and its host interactions, work that promises the emergence of major new treatments and cures for EBV-associated diseases, including several forms of human cancer.