Outcome in Hodgkin's lymphoma can be predicted from the presence of accompanying cytotoxic and regulatory T cells.

Journal article

PURPOSE: Recent studies of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) have suggested that the presence of regulatory T cells in the reactive background may explain the inhibition of the antitumoral host immune response observed in these patients. This study aimed to assess the relevance of regulatory T cells and CTLs present in the background of HL samples in the prognosis of a series of classic HL (cHL) patients. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Expression of granzyme B and TIA-1 (markers for CTL) and FOXP3 (a marker for regulatory T cells) were evaluated independently by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays of 257 cHL patients and correlated with patient outcome. RESULTS: The combined influence of the presence of FOXP3(+) and TIA-1(+) cells distinguished three risk groups of patients with 5-year overall survival of 100%, 88%, and 73%. The presence of a small number of FOXP3(+) cells and a high proportion of TIA-1(+) cells in the infiltrate represent an independent prognostic factor that negatively influenced event-free survival and disease-free survival in cHL. Compared with the features at diagnosis, relapsed samples tended to have more TIA-1(+) cells and a lower proportion of FOXP3(+) cells in the reactive background. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that low infiltration of FOXP3(+) cells in conjunction with high infiltration of TIA-1(+) cells in cHL may represent biological markers predicting an unfavorable outcome. Moreover, the variation of these markers over the course of the disease implies a possible role for them in the progression of HL cases.

Authors: Alvaro, T; Lejeune, M; Salvadó, M; Bosch, R; García, J

• Journal: Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 1467-1473
• Publication date: 2005-02-01
• DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-04-1869
• EISSN: 1557-3265
• ISSN: 1078-0432
• Language: English
• Keywords: Aged, 80 and over; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Female; Multivariate Analysis; Serine Endopeptidases; Survival Analysis; Forkhead Transcription Factors; Child; Adolescent; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic; Hodgkin Disease; Poly(A)-Binding Proteins; Aged; Humans; Middle Aged; DNA-Binding Proteins; Adult; Prognosis; Granzymes; Male; RNA-Binding Proteins; Immunohistochemistry; T-Lymphocytes; Proteins