Extranodal nasal-type natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL) is one of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related hematological malignancies, which mainly develops in the nasal cavity but can also occur in extranasal sites, either as a primary extranasal or disseminated disease (Harabuchi et al., 1996; Chen et al., 2015). NKTCL is more common in Asia than in Western countries (Au et al., 2009). Although most of the cases of NKTCL are diagnosed in the early stage of the disease, the long-term survival rate of patients is ∼46%-60% (Suzuki et al., 2010). The one-year survival rate of patients with advanced-stage disease is only 50%, despite improvements in treatment (Jaccard et al., 2011; Yamaguchi et al., 2011). The tumor cells of NKTCL derived from NK cells and, rarely, T cells are linked to EBV infection (Huang et al., 2013). However, the biological characteristics of NKTCL are not yet completely clear.