2021 Volume 29 Issue 1 Pages 114-120
Recently, some studies have evidenced the development of the post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) in patients following umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) resulting from the presence of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in UCB samples. Herein, we evaluate the prevalence of EBV in UCB samples using Real-time polymerase chain reaction (Real-time PCR) and Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) in cell and serum samples. In this study, the 650 samples were collected from delivery rooms under standard conditions. The 140 specimens were examined by ELISA for assessment of the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies against the EBV virus antigen. Moreover, Real-time PCR and Nested PCR were run to investigate the virus genome in samples. Among all samples, only 140 samples were assessed owing to accessibility to the plasma. These 140 plasma samples in terms of the IgM antibody against EBV capsid antigen were recognized as negative. Also, 132 samples (94.2%) out of 140 specimens tested in this research confirmed the presence of IgG antibody. The eight samples tested (5.8%) were also negative for both antibodies. Finally, out of 650 samples, 617 samples (94.9%) showed negative results by Real-time PCR. The achieved results from Nested PCR demonstrated that none of the 650 tested UCB samples were infected with EBV. In sum, the results of mother and embryo serologic experiments indicated that EBV prevalence rate in pregnant mothers is similar to its worldwide prevalence rate in adults.
