To analyze the role of EBV LMP-1-specific and HLA-E-mediated inhibitory NKG2A+ NK cell responses during EBV+ lymphomas, we first recruited 25 patients with EBV+HL and 38 patients with EBV+nHL (EBV+DLBCL: N=22, EBV+PTCL: N=16), 96 individuals with symptomatic EBV reactivations without any clinical evidence for EBV+ lymphomas (“symptomatic”) and additional 96 healthy EBV-IgG positive blood donors, which, in spite of a detectable EBV-viremia, had no symptoms (“asymptomatic”). Here, HLA-E is linked to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.