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Case Reports
. 2022 Apr;480(4):939-944.
doi: 10.1007/s00428-021-03206-2. Epub 2021 Sep 19.

Epstein-Barr virus associated gastric dysplasia: a new rare entity?

Valentina Angerilli  1 , Francesca Galuppini  1 , Gianmaria Pennelli  1 , Giuseppe Nicolo' Fanelli  2   3 , Emanuele S G d'Amore  4 , Mauro Michelotto  5 , Pierluigi Pilati  6 , Gaya Spolverato  7 , Salvatore Pucciarelli  7 , Marco Scarpa  7 , Fabio Farinati  8 , Edoardo Savarino  8 , Stefano Realdon  9 , Sara Lonardi  10   11 , Francesca Bergamo  12 , Fotios Loupakis  12 , Angelo Paolo Dei Tos  1 , Alessandro Vanoli  13 , Matteo Fassan  14   15
Affiliations
Case Reports

Epstein-Barr virus associated gastric dysplasia: a new rare entity?

Valentina Angerilli et al. Virchows Arch. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection characterizes a portion of gastric adenocarcinomas. However, since there is lack of evidence of EBV presence in pre-neoplastic lesions of gastric mucosa, the etiologic role of EBV in gastric carcinogenesis is still debated. We report an unusual case of an EBV-associated foveolar gastric dysplasia associated with a focus of EBV-positive low-grade tubular adenocarcinoma, arisen in the context of a lymphocytic-like (EBV-positive) gastritis. The present case offers the unique opportunity to determine whether EBV is an early or late event in gastric cancer development and to evaluate its prevalence in patients with gastric dysplasia. To properly address this question, we investigated EBER expression in a large mono-institutional series of gastric and gastro-esophageal cancers (n = 594) and associated precursor lesions (n = 84). All the selected gastric dysplastic lesions (n = 43) resulted EBV negative. In most cases, EBV is present only in gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinomas, but not in their precursor lesions. However, the reported case indicates that non-conventional EBV-associated dysplasia may represent a novel histopathological entity in the gastric dysplasia scenario and that EBV could play an early direct role in gastric carcinogenesis.

Keywords: Epstein-Barr Virus; Gastric cancer; Gastric dysplasia; Gastroesophageal cancer.

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