P3.02-001 Clinical Significance of Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus DNA in Pulmonary Lymphoepithelioma-Like Carcinoma (LELC) Patients

Abstract Introduction Primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a histologically distinctive subtype of NSCLC and an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated epithelial neoplasm. We investigated the clinical significance of plasma concentrations of EBV DNA in patients with pulmonary LELC. Methods Two independent sets of plasma samples from a total of 429 patients with patients with pulmonary LELC (287 initial and 142 confirmatory) were available for EBV DNA determination. Plasma samples from the patients were subjected to a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction before treatment and 3 months after radical resection. Cutoff points were determined for pretreatment plasma EBV DNA concentration (low Results High EBV DNA concentration was associated with shorter OS in the initial, confirmatory, and combined data sets (combined data set hazard ratio = 3.67, 95% confidence interval: 2.72–4.38, p p p Conclusion High baseline EBV DNA concentration is an independent poor prognostic marker in patients with pulmonary LELC. These results should be confirmed in larger prospective trials.