Abstract
Tissue cultures from the primary growths of 10 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients failed to grow. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients in Chinese yielded more evidence of infection in adenovirus types 7 and 12 than the normal Chinese population. Sera from 27 Chinese nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were tested for precipitating antibody to antigen prepared from Burkitt's lymphoma cells. There was a high incidence, 85%, of positive reactions in these patients. The possibility that nasopharyngeal carcinoma has a viral cause or relationship with Burkitt's lymphoma is discussed. While there is no evidence to support this contention, the possibility can not be excluded of a predisposing virus infection as the initiator of a malignant process or transformation.