Clinical treatment strategy and follow-up of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma: a retrospective study

<b>Aim:</b> To investigate the clinical features, diagnosis and treatment of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC). <b>Materials &amp; methods:</b> The clinical data of 114 LELC patients were retrospectively analyzed. <b>Results:</b> Ninety-eight patients (86.0%) were Epstein-Barr virus-encoded small RNA (EBER) positive detected by situ hybridization. A 67.1% (51/76) patients had PD-L1 expression. The 5-year overall survival rate of EBER negative patients was 51.6% while the rate of positive patients was 84.8% (<i>p</i> = 0.015). The 5-year progression free survival rate of EBER negative patients was 40.2% while the rate of positive patients was 70.2% (<i>p</i> = 0.004). <b>Conclusion:</b> The progression of LELC is relatively slow and present a better prognosis. The occurrence of tumor is closely related to Epstein–Barr virus infection and PD-L1 is highly expressed in tumor cells. Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a rare and special malignant tumor. The characteristics of it are not clear. We collected the data of 114 LELC patients. Then we found this tumor grew slowly. Eighty six percent of patients had been infected with EBV. Through microscopic observation, we found that 67.1% of patients had PD-L1 expression in tumor tissue. These characteristics can help people predict how long LELC patients will live and choose useful treatments. The progression of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma is relatively slow and present a better prognosis. Surgery is the main treatment. The occurrence of tumor is closely related to Epstein–Barr virus infection, and PD-L1 is highly expressed in tumor cells in most cases. The genomic variation spectrum is similar to nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which may benefit from immunotherapy.