EBV-positive lymphoepithelial carcinoma of salivary gland in a woman of a non-endemic area--a case report.

Lymphoepithelial carcinoma of the salivary glands is a very rare malignancy comprising not more than 0.4% of all salivary gland neoplasms in the non-endemic areas. In contrast it is much more frequent among native Greenlanders, North American Inuit (Eskimo) and Southern Chinese people living in Hong Kong. We report a case of a 74-year-old woman of Polish origin diagnosed with a lymphoepithelial carcinoma of the right parotid gland. The neoplastic cells were negative for EBV latent membrane protein (LMP-1), but in situ hybridisation for EBV mRNA (EBER) demonstrated positivity in almost all epithelial cells. No signs of EBV infection were found in the reactive lymphocytic component. The patient was treated with radiotherapy.