Huang FL, Luo M, He ZM, Shen YQ, Liu GD. Diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma: A case report. World J Clin Oncol 2025; 16(4): 104413 [DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i4.104413]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Guan-Da Liu, MD, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Ruikang Hospital Affiliated to Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, No. 10 Huadong Road, Nanning 530000, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. rkjp2024@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Oncol. Apr 24, 2025; 16(4): 104413 Published online Apr 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i4.104413
Diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma: A case report
Feng-Ling Huang, Min Luo, Zhen-Mei He, Yong-Qi Shen, Guan-Da Liu
Feng-Ling Huang, Min Luo, Zhen-Mei He, Guan-Da Liu, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Ruikang Hospital Affiliated to Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning 530000, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Yong-Qi Shen, Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi College Traditional Chinese Medicine, Liuzhou 545007, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Co-first authors: Feng-Ling Huang and Min Luo.
Co-corresponding authors: Yong-Qi Shen and Guan-Da Liu.
Author contributions: Shen YQ designed the research and obtained the funds for this research project; He ZM acquired and analyzed the clinical data, follow up with the patient and organize information; Shen YQ, Huang FL and Liu GD design the immunotherapy regimen and executed the research; Huang FL prepared the first draft of the manuscript; Luo M responsible for data re-analysis and re-interpretation, figure plotting, comprehensive literature search, preparation and submission of the current version of the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript. both Huang FL and Luo M have made crucial and indispensable contributions towards the completion of the project and thus qualified as the co-first authors of the paper. Both Liu GD and Shen YQ have played important and indispensable roles in the experimental design, data interpretation and manuscript preparation as the co-corresponding authors.
Supported by Chinese Medicine Administration Bureau of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, No. GXZYB20220472.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Guan-Da Liu, MD, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Ruikang Hospital Affiliated to Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, No. 10 Huadong Road, Nanning 530000, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. rkjp2024@163.com
Received: December 20, 2024 Revised: January 15, 2025 Accepted: February 25, 2025 Published online: April 24, 2025 Processing time: 97 Days and 2.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: We report a case of a 38-year-old man who was diagnosed with right pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (PLELC). Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed a mass in the medial segment of the middle lobe of the right lung, with lymph node metastasis in the mediastinum and right hilum of the lung. CT-guided lung tumor biopsy was performed and the postoperative pathological examination combined with immune phenotype analysis and in situ hybridization confirmed PLELC. Standard molecular testing for patients with non-small cell lung cancer was negative and programmed cell death ligand-1 expression was about 2%. However, the patient declined radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment. Consequently, immunotherapy was administered, which included toripalimab 240 mg on day 1 and anlotinib 10 mg on days 1-14 for 10 cycles, followed by a maintenance dose of anlotinib 10 mg daily every 3 weeks. As a result, his progression-free survival reached 48 months. PLELC is a rare primary epithelial lung cancer. Currently, there is no standard treatment for PLELC. A combination of toripalimab and anlotinib may benefit patients with advanced diseases who have not received systematic anti-tumor therapy. However, its long-term efficacy requires further comprehensive research and validation.
