# Virus particles in cultured lymphoblasts from Burkitt's lymphoma

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-epstein-virus-particles-burkitt-lymphoblasts-lancet-1964/  
OnCo record `paper-epstein-virus-particles-burkitt-lymphoblasts-lancet-1964` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Looking at cells grown from an African child's jaw tumour under an electron microscope, three researchers in London saw virus particles, the first virus ever linked to a human cancer.

## Summary

Michael Anthony Epstein, Bert Achong and Yvonne Barr reported virus particles in lymphoblasts cultured from a Burkitt lymphoma biopsy. Europe PMC indexes no abstract for the Lancet report, so no figure from it is quoted here.

Its importance is categorical rather than numerical: it was the first demonstration of a virus in a human tumour, and it opened the field that now includes human papillomavirus and cervical cancer, hepatitis B and C and liver cancer, Helicobacter pylori and gastric MALT lymphoma, human herpesvirus 8 and Kaposi sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma, and human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 and adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma.

Epstein-Barr virus is now known to infect most of the world's adult population harmlessly and to be associated with endemic Burkitt lymphoma, a subset of Hodgkin lymphoma, Epstein-Barr virus-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Two companion papers from the same group appeared in the same year, on the cultivation of the lymphoblasts (PubMed 14090852) and on a second virus-carrying strain (PubMed 14255814).

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-10-01
- Also known as: Epstein 1964; Epstein, Achong and Barr; Discovery of Epstein-Barr virus
- Tags: lymphoma-evidence
- Journal: Lancet
- Year: 1964
- DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(64)91524-7
- Authors: Epstein MA, Achong BG, Barr YM.
- Findings: Reported virus particles in lymphoblasts cultured from Burkitt's lymphoma, the first virus observed in a human tumour.; Europe PMC indexes no abstract for this record, so no figure from the paper is quoted here.; Two companion reports from the same group appeared in 1964: on the cultivation in vitro of human lymphoblasts from Burkitt's malignant lymphoma (PubMed 14090852) and on a second virus-carrying tissue culture strain (PubMed 14255814).
- What it means: The start of viral oncology. Everything in cancer prevention that works by preventing or treating an infection, from hepatitis B vaccination to Helicobacter eradication for gastric MALT lymphoma, descends from the idea this paper established.
- Caveats: No abstract is indexed, and the 1964 report establishes the presence of virus particles rather than causation; the causal argument was built over the following decades.; Epstein-Barr virus infects most adults worldwide without causing cancer, so its presence in a tumour is necessary rather than sufficient and the cofactors in endemic Burkitt lymphoma, including malaria, remain the subject of research.

## Sources

- Lancet 1964: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(64)91524-7
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14107961/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/14107961

## Connected records

- key papers: [A sarcoma involving the jaws in African children](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-burkitt-sarcoma-involving-jaws-african-children-br-j-surg-1958/)
- ideas: [An Epstein-Barr virus vaccine to prevent nasopharyngeal cancer and lymphomas](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-ebv-vaccine/)
- roadmaps: [Lymphoma roadmap: from a jaw tumour in Uganda and the first human cancer virus to gene-expression subtypes, PET-adapted chemotherapy, CAR-T cells, bispecific antibodies and the genetics-directed trials now recruiting](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/lymphoma-roadmap/)
- cancers: [Burkitt lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-lymphoma/), [Hodgkin lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD)](https://onco.cc/cancers/post-transplant-lymphoproliferative-disorder/)
- fronts: [Diagnostics & Biomarkers](https://onco.cc/fronts/diagnostics/), [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/)
- bottlenecks: [Most of the world has almost no cancer care](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-global-access/), [Prevention we already have is not deployed](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-prevention-adoption/)
- journals: [The Lancet](https://onco.cc/journals/lancet/)

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