Table 2_Demographic/clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of resectable Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric cancer: a nested case-control study from an Eastern China.docx

BackgroundEpstein-Barr virus-associated gastric cancer (EBVaGC) represents a distinct molecular subtype of gastric cancer (GC). This multicenter study aimed to investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of resectable EBVaGC patients.
MethodsData were prospectively collected and retrospectively analyzed from 1,400 patients at Ningbo No. 2 Hospital from January 2014 to December 2023 and 55 EBVaGC patients were identified. Additionally, 95 EBVaGC patients from two external cooperative centers were included. A 1:4 propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed between EBVaGC patients and EBV-negative gastric cancer (EBVnGC) patients. Median follow-up duration was 34 months.
ResultsAmong the 150 EBVaGC patients, the median age was 64, and 88.7% were male. Undifferentiated tumors were more common. During the follow-up, 121 EBVaGC patients did not experience recurrence. After PSM, there were 137 EBVaGC patients and 548 EBVnGC patients. In EBVaGC patients, elevated Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) levels (HR = 8.11, p=0.025) and pathological tumor-node-metastasis (pTNM) stage III (HR = 19.57, p=0.008) were independent risk factors for overall survival (OS). For disease-free survival (DFS), elevated CEA levels (HR = 6.23, p=0.035) and pTNM stage III (HR = 18.51, p=0.007) were independent risk factors. There was no significant difference in OS between the two groups (p=0.204). Compared to EBVnGC patients, EBVaGC patients showed a trend towards better DFS, although this did not reach statistical significance(p=0.061).
ConclusionEBVaGC patients exhibit unique clinicopathological characteristics and may show a trend toward better prognosis compared with EBVnGC patients, although this difference did not reach statistical significance.