In epithelial cancers, EBV was shown to upregulate KDM5B—a histone demethylase—through EBNA1 and BZLF1, contributing to the silencing of PLK2 and activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, as demonstrated in EBV-associated NPC and EBVaGC models (Zhou et al., 2025). This evidence concerns the gene KDM5B and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.