[Clinical Characteristics and Prognostic Analysis of Patients with EBV-Positive Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma]

To explore the clinical features and prognosis of patients with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

The clinical data of 152 patients with DLBCL in Jixi Road Hospital District, Gaoxin Hospital District, North District of the First Affiliated Hospital and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from January 2017 to March 2024 were collected and retrospectively analyzed to determine the clinical characteristics and the impact of EBV positivity on prognosis.

Among 152 DLBCL cases, there were only 15 cases of EBV-positive DLBCL, with a positivity rate of about 9.87% (15/152). Among the patients with EBV-positive DLBCL, the median age at onset was 75 years old, there were 8 males and 7 females, all of them were immunophenotyped as ABC (15/15), all of the 15 EBV-positive patients were treated with R-CHOP, the recent efficacy assessment was progressive disease in all of them (15/15). Ann Arbor staging, ECOG score, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), IPI score, immunophenotyping, and MYC expression were correlated with the expression of EBER (P< 0.05). The prognosis of patients with EBV-positive DLBCL was significantly worse than that of patients with EBV-negative DLBCL, and the ECOG score and EBER positivity were independent prognostic factors in patients with DLBCL.

EBV-positive DLBCL is a rare group of highly aggressive lymphomas with predominantly ABC subtypes, with a high overall morbidity and mortality. The expression of EBER and the ECOG score were associated with DLBCL prognosis.