Moreover, EBERs may have several roles in EBV-driven tumorigenesis: EBER1 and EBER2 contribute to the clonal proliferation of EBV-negative BL cells in soft agar, promote tumorigenicity in SCID mice, upregulate the bcl-2 oncoprotein, induce resistance to apoptosis, and favour the maintenance of malignant phenotypes in BL cells. The gene discussed is BCL2; the disease is Burkitt lymphoma.