These data indicate that thymic MALT lymphoma may represent a distinct subgroup of MALT lymphoma characterized by apparent predilection for Asians, a strong association with autoimmune disease, frequent presence of cysts, consistent plasma cell differentiation, tumor cells expressing IgA phenotype, and consistent lack of API2-MALT1 gene fusion..     ///    "Epstein-Barr virus was absent, and API2-MALT1 gene fusion, a recently reported MALT lymphoma-specific gene abnormality, was not detected in any case. "