BCL2 expression but not MYC and BCL2 coexpression predicts survival in elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma independently of cell of origin in the phase 3 LNH03-6B trial

<span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Background</div>Our aim was to evaluate whether the cell of origin (COO) as defined by the Hans algorithm and MYC/BCL2 coexpression, which are the two main biological risk factors in elderly patients treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin hydrochloride, vincristine, and prednisolone (R-CHOP), maintain their prognostic value in a large prospective clinical trial.<div class="boxTitle">Patients and methods</div>We evaluated 285 paraffin-embedded samples from patients (60–80 years of age) enrolled in the Lymphoma Study Association trial LNH03-6B who were treated with R-CHOP. We correlated the COO defined by the transcriptome according to the Wright algorithm with that defined by the Hans algorithm in a subset of 62 tumors with available frozen tissue samples.<div class="boxTitle">Results</div>The non-germinal center B-cell-like phenotype according to the Hans algorithm and BCL2 expression (but not MYC and BCL2 coexpression) predicted worse progression-free survival [hazard ratio (HR)=1.78, <span style="font-style:italic;">P = </span>0.003 and HR = 1.79, <span style="font-style:italic;">P = </span>0.003, respectively] and overall survival (HR = 1.85, <span style="font-style:italic;">P = </span>0.005 and HR = 1.67, <span style="font-style:italic;">P = </span>0.02, respectively) independently of the International Prognostic Index. The correlation between the Hans algorithm and the Wright algorithm was 91%, with an almost perfect concordance according to a kappa test (0.81).<div class="boxTitle">Conclusions</div>Our results suggest that immunohistochemically defined COO remains a useful tool for predicting prognosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma when performed under optimized standardized conditions and that BCL2 expression may help to identify elderly patients at risk for relapse and who could potentially respond to anti-BCL2 targeted agents. In this prospective phase III trial, the coexpression of MYC and BCL2 does not appear to predict worse survival.<div class="boxTitle">Clinical trial Number</div>NCT00144755</span>

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