TY - JOUR AU - Ginting, Hana Isal Salina AU - Farhat, Farhat AU - Sari, Mutiara Indah PY - 2022/07/28 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - The Serological Examination of Immunoglobulin A Anti-Early Antigen of Epstein–Barr Virus (Anti-EA EBV IgA) in the Nias Tribe Nasopharyngeal Cancer Patients JF - Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences JA - Open Access Maced J Med Sci VL - 10 IS - A SE - Immunology DO - 10.3889/oamjms.2022.7025 UR - https://oamjms.eu/index.php/mjms/article/view/7025 SP - 1116-1120 AB - <div><p class="Pa6"><strong><span lang="EN-US">BACKGROUND: </span></strong><span lang="EN-US">Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is a health problem associated with malignancies of the ear, nose, and throat. The main pathogenesis of NPC is Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection. The signs and symptoms of NPC are non-specific, causing the occurrence of delay in diagnosis leading to treatment failure. The early detection based on the NPC profile using immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies against the early antigen (EA) can be done, but many factors affect anti-EA EBV IgA levels, one of which is ethnicity.</span></p></div><div><p class="Pa6"><strong><span lang="EN-US">AIM: </span></strong><span lang="EN-US">This study aimed to compare levels of anti-EA EBV IgA in NPC patients and non-NPC in the Nias tribe.</span></p></div><div><p class="Pa6"><strong><span lang="EN-US">MATERIALS AND METHODS: </span></strong><span lang="EN-US">This study was cross-sectional involving 29 NPC patients and 29 non-NPC in the Nias tribe. The subjects of the study were blood tests to measure the levels of anti-EA EBV IgA by a serological test. Data were analyzed by Chi-square test.</span></p></div><div><p class="Pa6"><strong><span lang="EN-US">RESULTS: </span></strong><span lang="EN-US">The results showed that the mean value of anti-EA EBV IgA levels is 246.22 ± 320.05 U/mL and the proportion of positive serology tests is 55.2% in NPC patients. The mean value of anti-EA EBV IgA levels is 51.79 ± 1.55 U/mL and the proportion of positive serology tests is 10.3% in non-NPC. The comparison of mean anti-EA EBV IgA between NPC patients and non-NPC was significant (p &lt; 0.001). The comparison of positive and negative serology tests of anti-EA EBV IgA between NPC patients and non-NPC was significant (p &lt; 0.05).</span></p></div><div><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>The serology tests of anti-EA EBV IgA play a role in differentiating NPC patients from non-NPC, so it can be useful as a screening tool for NPC in the Nias tribe.</div> ER -