title: Epstein-Barr virus-associated primary gastrointestinal lymphoma in non-immunocompromised patients in Korea.
abstract: We examined 81 cases of primary gastrointestinal lymphomas in Korea, including 64 gastric lymphomas and 17 intestinal lymphomas, for EBV expression by EBER-1 in situ hybridization (ISH) and EBNA-1 PCR. In EBER-1 positive cases, we performed immunohistochemistry for latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1) and EBV diffuse early antigen (EA(D)) to compare EBV latent gene expression and lytic process. EBER-1 was detected in 15 of 81 cases of lymphomas. EBER-1 expression showed three different patterns on tumour cells; diffuse 4/81 (5%), localized 4/81 (8%), and a few scattered pattern 7/81 (9%). We regarded diffuse pattern and localized pattern as EBER-1 positive group (8/81: 10%). Diffuse pattern of EBER-1 was shown in all three T-cell lymphomas and one B-cell lymphoma. A localized pattern was seen all in B-cell lymphomas. The EBER-1 expression was 11% in the stomach (7/64) and 6% in the intestine (1/17). Five of the eight EBER-1 positive gastric lymphomas were histologically diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, and the other three were peripheral T-cell lymphoma, unspecified, one angiocentric lymphoma, and one intestinal T-cell lymphoma by REAL classification. Eight MALT type gastric B-cell lymphomas showed no EBV association. EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA-1) was detected in 15 of 45 resected cases (33%) by PCR. EBER-1 positive cases were all EBNA-1 positive. Twelve EBNA-positive/EBER-negative cases consisted of seven cases showing a few scattered EBER-1 positive lymphocytes. LMP-1 and diffuse early antigen (EA(D)) was detected in five and three cases, respectively. Although follow-up information in our series was incomplete, it seemed that there was no significant difference in their staging or prognosis between EBER-positive cases and EBER-negative group. It is concluded that EBV is associated with some lymphomas among Koreans without overt pre-existing immunodeficiency, especially in T-cell lymphomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Khang
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction