Epstein-Barr virus associated gastric carcinoma: A clinicopathologic study with recognition of a distinctive...

Existing data characterize "classic" Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positive gastric carcinoma (GC) histologically as GC with lymphoid stroma (or lymphoepithelioma-like or medullary) exhibiting sheets or syncytia of malignant cells with prominent intratumoral lymphocytes. This diagnosis has clinical implications, given the associated frequent programmed death-ligand 1 gene amplification, and clear benefit from immunotherapy. However, there appears to be a paucity of published data regarding characteristic histologic features of EBV-GC. We evaluated 19 EBV-GC specimens (11 biopsies; 8 resections) retrieved from 13 patients and found that a unique reticular pattern was identified in 17 of 19 (89 %) specimens, either as an exclusive pattern in 26 %, or as a mixed pattern in 63 % specimens. Most patients were male (85 %), with an average age of 61.5 years, mostly of Hispanic or Black (77 %) ethnicity, and showed a predilection for proximal stomach (69 %). Associated prominent intratumoral inflammation was seen in cases retrieved from all patients (lymphocytic: 7, mixed: 6). Although a similar lace-like pattern has been implicitly cited in association with early stage EBV-GC, we report a unique reticular pattern with intratumoral inflammation that was seen more commonly than widely known "classic" histology and was even seen in association with advanced pathologic stage. We propose that ancillary EBV testing be performed on all gastric tumors with this distinctive pattern, and with other patterns with prominent (including mixed) intratumoral inflammation, to screen for EBV-GC cases, thus detecting patients who may be eligible for immunotherapy with important therapeutic implications.