The aberrancy of immunophenotype and immunoglobulin status as indicators of prognosis in B cell diffuse large cell lymphoma

• Published in: The American journal of pathology Vol. 133; no. 1; pp. 118 - 126
• Main Authors: Spier, CM, Grogan, TM, Lippman, SM, Slymen, DJ, Rybski, JA, Miller, TP
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda, MD ASIP 01.10.1988; American Society for Investigative Pathology
• Subjects: Antigens, Surface - analysis; B-Lymphocytes - classification; Biological and medical sciences; Female; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; HLA-DR Antigens - analysis; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains - analysis; Immunoglobulin Light Chains - analysis; Leukemias. Malignant lymphomas. Malignant reticulosis. Myelofibrosis; Lymphoma - immunology; Lymphoma - pathology; Male; Medical sciences; Neoplasm Staging; Phenotype; Prognosis; Statistics as Topic; T-Lymphocytes - classification; Diffuse; Human; Immunohistochemistry; Immunoglobulins; Phenotype; Prognosis; Histiocytic lymphoma; Hemopathy; B-Lymphocyte
• ISSN: 0002-9440; 1525-2191

To assess the prognostic significance of the immunophenotype in diffuse large cell lymphoma (DLCL), 105 DLCL patients were studied between 1978 and 1987 using a panel of 40 monoclonal antibodies applied to frozen tissue. Eighty-three patients were found to have B cell phenotypes, and 20 patients had T cell phenotypes. Focusing on markers relevant to clinical outcome among B cell LCL showed that lack of expression of the pan B antigens Leu14 and Leu16 were correlated with decreased survival (Leu14, P = 0.01; Leu16, P = 0.06; log-rank). HLA-DR activity also showed that lack of expression of this antigen correlated with poor survival (P = 0.004, log-rank). Kappa light chain immunoglobulin lack of expression showed predictive value for decreased survival as well (P = 0.005, log-rank). Multivariate analyses of known clinically important variables and the immune phenotypes confirm that the loss of HLA-DR and B cell aberrancy are independent factors predicting a poor clinical outcome. Losing some B activation/kappa antigens appears to be a broad biologic phenomenon linking surface antigen lack of expression with decreased survival. This suggests that aberrancy of immunophenotype and immunoglobulin status are key predictors of survival in B-LCL.