Male gender is an adverse prognostic factor in B-cell lymphoma patients treated with immunochemotherapy*

Abstract

Male gender is an adverse prognostic factor in Hodgkin's lymphoma, but no such association has yet been established in non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Here, we have evaluated whether gender has prognostic impact on the survival of patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the postrituximab era of lymphoma therapies. The study populations consisted of 217 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and 110 follicular lymphoma (FL) patients treated with immunochemotherapy. Hundred and sixty chemotherapy-treated DLBCL patients served as a control group. According to Kaplan-Meier analyses, female patients had a significantly better progression-free survival than men both in DLBCL (4 yr PFS 75% vs. 60%; P= 0.013) and in FL (4 yr PFS 68% vs. 52%, P=0.036) patients treated with immunochemotherapy. In chemotherapy-treated DLBCL patients, no difference in survival between the genders was found. The results support the idea that women seem to respond better to rituximab.

Population based study of prognostic factors and treatment in adult Burkitt lymphoma: a Swedish Lymphoma Registry study

“…To our knowledge, no studies have been performed regarding gender-related differences in BL disease biology or the impact of gender on BL prognosis. Our results contradict those achieved in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), which have shown a worse prognosis for males 16 .…”

Suboptimal dosing of rituximab in male and female patients with DLBCL

“…[12][13][14][15] From nonrandomized comparisons, it appears that the negative impact of male gender is more pronounced in DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP-like chemotherapy than with chemotherapy alone. 16,17 The multivariable analyses of RICOVER-60 4 show that male gender is associated with a slightly (but nonsignificantly) increased risk for an event in EFS, PFS, and OS in patients treated with CHOP chemotherapy without rituximab, but male gender evolves as a significant risk factor for EFS and PFS when rituximab is added to CHOP, demonstrating a differential effect of rituximab on the outcome of elderly female and male patients. This observation in the RICOVER-60 trial was confirmed in the other trials listed in Table 2, where elderly patients received CHOP with and without rituximab.…”

Real-world data on prognostic factors and treatment in peripheral T-cell lymphomas: a study from the Swedish Lymphoma Registry

“…This observation has been made in PTCLs in smaller series before 8,17 as well as in B-cell lymphomas. 18 IPI is, however, not likely to be optimal for risk assessment in all types of PTCLs. 17,19 In PTCL NOS, the PIT score has been suggested to be a better tool for risk stratification than the IPI.…”