AUTHOR=Kim Tong-Yoon , Min Gi-June , Jeon Young-Woo , Park Sung-Soo , Park Silvia , Shin Seung-Hawn , Yahng Seung-Ah , Yoon Jae-Ho , Lee Sung-Eun , Cho Byung-Sik , Eom Ki-Seong , Kim Yoo-Jin , Lee Seok , Kim Hee-Je , Min Chang-Ki , Lee Jong-Wook , Cho Seok-Goo 

TITLE=Impact of Epstein-Barr Virus on Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma Not Otherwise Specified and Angioimmunoblastic T-Cell Lymphoma

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2021.797028

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2021.797028

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Purpose</title><p>The significance of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections for the prognosis of patients with peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs), specifically angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) and PTCL not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS), remains unclear. The Epstein-Barr encoding region can be used to detect EBV in tissue sections by <italic>in situ</italic> hybridization (ISH) and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays of peripheral blood samples from patients with PTCLs. This study compared the outcomes patients with AITL or PTCL-NOS for whom the presence of EBV infection was assessed by these two methods.</p></sec><sec><title>Patients and Methods</title><p>This was a retrospective study of patients newly diagnosed with AITL or PTCL-NOS. All patients were selected from a single transplantation center. EBV-positive lymphomas were detected at the time of diagnosis in tissue sections by ISH or in the blood by PCR.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Out of a cohort of 140 patients with histologically confirmed AITL or PTCL-NOS, 105 were EBV-positive. The 3-year overall survival of patients with EBV-positive TCL was 43.3% compared to 68.6% in patients with EBV-negative TCL (p = .01). Patients who were treated with autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (n = 28 and n = 11, respectively) or chemotherapy alone (n = 66) had 3-year survival rates of 67.0%, 62.3%, and 30.2%, respectively (p &lt;.02). Patients with EBV-positive TCL had a better prognosis after treatment with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation compared to chemotherapy alone, but no difference was seen among patients with EBV-negative TCL.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>EBV infection was shown to negatively affect the clinical outcomes of patients with TCL. Stem cell transplantation has been found to be an effective treatment for EBV-associated lymphomas. Further investigations are warranted to determine the optimal treatment for these patients.</p></sec>