OBJECTIVETo explore the clinical significance of peripheral blood EB virus detection in NK/T cell lymphoma patients.

METHODSThe positive rate of EB virus and EBV-DNA in 85 cases of NK/T cell lymphoma was assayed; the correlation of positive rate of EB virus with clinical staging, short-term and long-term prognosis was analyzed.

RESULTSThe positive rate of EB virus in NK/T cell lymphoma was high (80.00%). The EBV-DNA copy number in peripheral blood leukocytes was higher than that in peripheral plasma (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in EBV-DNA level between peripheral leukocytes and serum (P>0.05). The I-II stages ratio of patients in EBVgroup was significantly lower than that in EBVgroup. The CR rate and ORR in EBVgroup was significantly lower than those in EBVgroup, the 3 year OS rate and 3 year DFR in EBVgroup also was significantly lower than those in EBVgroup.

CONCLUSIONThe detection of periphera blood EBV may be used as an reference indicator for anxiliary diagnosis of NK/T cell lymphoma and evaluation of prognosis for patients, thus possessing a certain value for clinical application.