Abstract
Several types of cancer and some auto-immune diseases are linked to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. In addition to viral proteins, EBV expresses many functional RNAs to influence cell biology, avoiding the immune responses that would be targeted to viral proteins. Some of these RNAs are also exported from the EBV-infected cells into surrounding cells, including those involved in immune surveillance of the EBV infected cells. EBER1 is the most abundant of these EBV RNAs and recent progress in understanding EBER1 mechanisms might make it a drug target for some diseases associated with EBV.