Fig. 4: R9AP is expressed in human tissues that are susceptible to EBV infection.
From: R9AP is a common receptor for EBV infection in epithelial cells and B cells
a, Representative immunohistochemical images of human lymphoid tissues (n = 5), basal layers of floor of the mouth (n = 5) and tongue (n = 5), stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) (top row) or with anti-R9AP (bottom row). Inset shows 4× magnified view of the outlined region in the main image. Scale bars, 50 μm. b, Representative images of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (n = 5), gastric carcinoma (n = 3) and B cell lymphoma (n = 4) stained with anti-R9AP (top row) or EBV-encoded EBER probe (bottom row). Inset shows 4× magnified view of the outlined region in the main image. Scale bars, 100 μm. c, Western blot analysis of R9AP expression in human tongue, lymph node, gastric mucosa, liver, lung, thyroid, EBV-positive B cell lymphoma (BL), nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and EBV-positive gastric carcinoma (GC). HNE1 cells expressing Cas9 and sgR9AP 1 or sgVector were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. Data are representative of three independent experiments. d, Unified model of EBV entry. In B cells, gp42 binding to HLAII allows gH/gL to bind R9AP, which induces activation of gB-mediated viral and host membrane fusion. In epithelial cells, gH/gL simultaneously binds R9AP and EPHA2, which induces gB-mediated viral and host membrane fusion. Part d created in BioRender. Yang, T. (2025) https://BioRender.com/b61o826.
