Epstein Barr Virus Genome Sequencing from endemic Burkitt lymphoma patients and healthy control children in Kenya

Endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL), the most prevalent pediatric cancer in sub-Saharan Africa, is associated with malaria and Epstein Barr virus (EBV). In order to better understand the role of EBV in eBL, we improved viral DNA enrichment methods and generated a total of 98 new EBV genomes from both eBL cases (N=58) and healthy controls (N=40) residing in the same geographic region in Kenya. Overall, our findings address the complexities of EBV population structure and provide new insight into viral variation, which has the potential to influence eBL oncogenesis.