Methotrexate-Related Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-Associated Lymphoproliferative Disorder—So-Called “Hodgkin-Like Lesion”—of the Oral Cavity in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Patients affected by autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, dermatomyositis) who are treated with methotrexate (MTX) sometimes develop lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs). In approximately 40% of reported cases, the affected sites have been extranodal, and have included the gastrointestinal tract, skin, lung, kidney, and soft tissues. However, MTX-associated LPD (MTX-LPD) is extremely rare in the oral cavity. Here we report a 69-year-old Japanese woman with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who developed MTX-LPD resembling Hodgkin’s disease—so-called “Hodgkin-like lesion”—in the left upper jaw. Histopathologically, large atypical lymphoid cells including Hodgkin or Reed-Sternberg-like cells were found to have infiltrated into granulation tissue in the ulcerative oral mucosa. Immunohistochemistry showed that the large atypical cells were positive for CD20, CD30 and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-latent infection membrane protein-1 (LMP-1) and negative for CD15. EBV was detected by in situ hybridization (ISH) with EBV-encoded small RNA (EBER), and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for LMP-1 and EBNA-2 in material taken from the formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimen. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of MTX-related EBV-associated LPD (MTX-EBVLPD), “Hodgkin-like lesion”, of the oral cavity in a patient with RA.