Lack of prognostic significance of the germinal-center phenotype in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients treated with CHOP-like chemotherapy with and without rituximab

Abstract

The influence of the germinal-center B-cell (GCB) and the non-GCB phenotypes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) on the outcome of 92 patients treated with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) or CHOP-like chemotherapy, with or without rituximab was determined in this study. The differentiation between the GCB and non-GCB types was arrived at by immunohistochemistry using previously published criteria. Thirty-nine patients had the GCB and 53 had the non-GCB type of DLBCL. Forty-nine patients were treated with rituximab and chemotherapy; 43 were treated with chemotherapy alone. The GCB and non-GCB group did not differ in their international prognostic index factors and score, presence of bulky disease, or frequency of rituximab treatment. Median follow-up of the surviving patients was carried out for 37 months. There was no difference between the GCB and non-GCB groups in both overall response rates (67 vs. 70%, respectively) and estimated rates of 3-year event-free (46 vs. 49%, respectively) and overall (54 vs. 56%, respectively) survival. In addition, no differences of the outcomes were observed between the subgroups treated with or without rituximab. The patients of this study with immunohistochemically determined GCB-type DLBCL did not have an improved prognosis, irrespective of whether they had received rituximab or not.

Gemcitabine and treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in relapsed or refractory elderly patients: A prospective randomized trial in Algeria

“…[14] It is treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens [15] that comprise a combination of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) [3,16] or similar so-called CHOP-like regimens. [17] However, response rate to CHOP regimen is usually lower in the elderly compared with young patients. [18] The age of patients is thus a pejorative prognostic factor for NHL treatment when they are older than 60 years; [19] they constitute 40% of patients with aggressive NHL.…”

Y-box binding protein-1 expression in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: an impact on prognosis in the rituximab era

“…GCB versus non-GCB lymphoma subtype, is still controversial. This distinction has been reported to have lost its prognostic value in patients treated with R-CHOP [28][29][30]. On the other hand, Lenz et al…”

New developments in the pathology of malignant lymphoma: a review of the literature published from January to August 2009

“…The 92 patients of Ilic et al [83] with immunohistochemically determined GCB-type DLBCL did not have an improved prognosis, irrespective of whether they had received rituximab or not. According to Morito et al [84], low serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels and germinal center B cell-like cases in 80 patients treated with rituximab were predicting favorable outcome, but the results correlate strongly with the IPI.…”