During chemotherapy for lymphoma, the administration of cytotoxic agents and rituximab often results in hepatitis B reactivation (incidence, 14-72%). This study was designed to compare the efficacy of entecavir and lamivudine in preventing hepatitis B reactivation in lymphoma patients. Between January 2007 and February 2009, patients treated in four hospitals in China were screened to identify those most appropriate for analysis. These patients received either entecavir or lamivudine during chemotherapy and for 6 months after completion of chemotherapy. A total of 34 patients received entecavir and 89 patients received lamivudine. Compared with the lamivudine group, the entecavir group had significantly lower rates of hepatitis (5.9 vs 27.0%, P = 0.007), hepatitis B reactivation (0 vs 12.4%, P = 0.024) and disruption of chemotherapy (5.9 vs 20.2%, P = 0.042). All patients with hepatitis B reactivation had B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (stage III-IV). In lymphoma patients under chemotherapy treatment, entecavir is more effective than lamivudine in preventing hepatitis B reactivation. For patients with advanced stage disease, entecavir should be considered the primary preventive therapy.

Pirarubicin is an analog of doxorubicin. Few studies have compared the long-term outcomes of patients receiving pirarubicin-based THP-COP and doxorubicin-based CHOP in the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). We retrospectively compared the efficacy and safety of these two regimens in 459 previously untreated aggressive NHL patients admitted to Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center from 1987 to 2003. For initial treatment, 205 patients received the THP-COP regimen, and 254 patients received the CHOP regimen. The patients' characteristics were well balanced. The groups did not differ in the complete remission rate (THP-COP, 57.1% vs. CHOP, 57.0%; P = 0.998) or response rate (THP-COP, 82.9% vs. CHOP, 81.5%; P = 0.691). At a median follow-up of 95.7 months, the 8-year survival rates were also similar (overall survival: THP-COP, 55.8% vs. CHOP, 56.7%; progression-free survival: THP-COP, 47.3% vs. CHOP, 43.5%; lymphoma-specific survival: THP-COP, 51.2% vs. CHOP, 48.5%). The THP-COP group had fewer cases of alopecia (P < 0.001) and gastrointestinal toxicities (P = 0.015). A tendency toward decreased arrhythmia (P = 0.075), especially in elderly patients (P = 0.030), was found. In combination chemotherapy for aggressive NHL, pirarubicin has comparable efficacy to doxorubicin and has a lower incidence of alopecia, gastrointestinal toxicities, and arrhythmia. Further studies are warranted to confirm these results.

Radical resection before chemotherapy should be considered in early-stage ileocecal NHL to achieve a better survival. Palliative resection of the primary lesion before chemotherapy may be necessary in T-cell advanced cases to avoid surgical emergencies during chemotherapy. Owing to the small sample number in this study, a prospective analysis with larger sample number is highly necessary.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type arises from a wide variety of extranodal sites, most frequently from the gastrointestinal tract. Recently, it has been demonstrated that karyotypic alterations involving the PIK3CA and FOXP1 genes of chromosome 3 occur in MALT lymphoma. However, their associated protein expression has not been extensively studied. Tumor tissues from 27 gastric and 23 intestinal MALT lymphomas were analyzed for PIK3CA and FOXP1 protein expression using immunohistochemistry and correlated with histological features and treatment outcomes. Expression of PIK3CA, a novel indicator, was found in 40% of gastrointestinal cases and indicated an inferior progression-free survival in both gastric and intestinal MALT lymphomas (P = 0.001 and P = 0.015). Tumor staining of nuclear FOXP1 (46.0%) was more common in gastric than intestinal MALT lymphomas (P = 0.042) and was significantly associated with polymorphic histology (P = 0.007). FOXP1 expression was identified as an adverse prognostic factor for overall survival in gastric MALT lymphomas (P = 0.035). We further combined these two markers and observed that patients that are positive for both PIK3CA and FOXP1 had a worse overall and progression-free survival. Considering the small sample size of this study, these results should be confirmed in a large prospective study.