Table 3 Tumour characteristics of gastric carcinoma according to EBV status

	EBV-positive gastric carcinoma n =18		EBV-negative gastric carcinoma n =194
	N	%	N	%	P -value
Gender					0.19
Males	15	83	120	62
Females	3	17	74	38
Material					0.98
Biopsy	8	44.4	72	37.1
Gastrectomy specimens	10	55.6	122	62.9
Location					0.33^a
Proximal	6	33.3	59	30.4
Distal	6	33.3	86	44.3
Diffuse	2	11.1	14	7.2
Unknown	4	22.2	35	18.0
Histology (WHO)					0.12^b
Papillary	0	0	6	3.1
Tubular	15	83.3	119	61.3
Mucinous	0	0	5	2.6
Signet-ring cell	1	5.6	44	22.7
Undifferentiated	2	11.1	18	9.3
Adenosquamous	0	0	2	1.0
Histology (Laurén)					0.23^c
Intestinal	14	77.8	125	64.4
Diffuse	3	16.7	67	34.5
Mixed	1	5.6	2	1.0
Differentiation of tubular type carcinomas					0.24^d
Good	0	0	17	14.3
Moderate	9	60.0	59	49.6
Poor	6	40.0	43	36.1
Degree of lymphocyte infiltration					0.03^d
Low	6	33.3	113	58.2
Moderate	9	50.0	75	38.7
Abundant	3	16.7	6	3.1
Pattern of lymphocyte infiltration					0.60^e
Lymphoepithelioma-like	0	0	0	0
Nodular	3	16.7	41	21.1
Diffuse	15	83.3	149	76.8
Follicular infiltration	0	0	4	2.1

EBV=Epstein–Barr virus; WHO=World Health Organisation;
Tubular adenocarcinomas were categorised as well differentiated (well-formed glands), moderately differentiated (intermediate between well differentiated and poorly differentiated) and poorly differentiated (highly irregular glands that are recognised with difficulty or single cells that remain isolated or are arranged in small clusters) according to WHO 2000. The pattern and degree of lymphocytic infiltration was assessed semi-quantitatively as absent, mild, moderate or abundant infiltration by examining 10 medium power fields ( × 200 magnification). The pattern of lymphocyte infiltration was determined as lymphoepithelioma-like, nodular, diffuse or follicular.
^aNon-distal vs distal location, samples with ‘unknown’ location not included.
^bTubular histology vs other types.
^cSamples with ‘mixed’ histology not included.
^dP-value represents trend test.
^eNodular infiltration vs other types.

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