Table 1.

Pathogenic proteins contributing to EBV-associated NPC.

EBV target	Protumourigenic function	References
Latent proteins
LMP1	Promoting interferon regulatory factor-7 (IRF-7) mediated angiogenesis and cell growth	[21]
	Inducing cancer stem-like cells in NPC	[22]
	Inducing tumour-promoting inflammation through NF-kB pathway	[23]
	Promoting expression of antiapoptotic proteins and inactivating proapoptotic proteins	[23]
	Stimulating cell growth by upregulating growth factor receptors (e.g., c-Met)	[24]
LMP2A	Inducing cancer stem-like properties by activating Hedgehog signalling pathway	[22]
	Promoting cancer cell migration and invasion that leads to metastasis	[25, 26]
	Inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and enhancing side-population cells	[7]
	Activating PI3 K-AKT pathway to inhibit cellular differentiation and promote cancer cell survival	[27]
	Counteracting inhibitory and proapoptotic effects of TGF-B1 through PI3 K-AKT pathway	[28]
	Modulating mTOR pathway for cell survival and proliferation	[29]
EBNA1	Maintaining stable number of EBV genomes in infected cells	[5]
	Inducing genomic instability	[30]
	Reducing p53 levels and promoting cell survival	[31]
	Suppressing TGF-B1 signalling and promoting oncogenesis	[32]
	Inducing cellular DNA damage	[33]
Lytic proteins
Zta	Induction of IL-8	[34]
BGLF5/DNase	Inducing genomic instability	[35]
BALF3	Inducing genomic instability	[36]
BARF	Increasing cell proliferation rate	[37]