title: CD20 expression in Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg cells of classical Hodgkin's disease: associations with presenting features and clinical outcome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  CD20 can be expressed in Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells of classical Hodgkin's disease (HD), but its clinical significance remains controversial. Therefore, we correlated CD20 expression with presenting features and clinical outcome of untreated patients with classical HD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were eligible if they were previously untreated and human immunodeficiency virus-1 negative, had biopsy-proven classical HD, and if pretreatment paraffin-embedded tumor tissue was available. CD20 expression was determined by immunohistochemistry without knowledge of clinical outcome. A tumor was considered positive if any HRS cells expressed CD20, but other cutoffs for number of CD20-positive HRS were also investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 598 patients whose median age was 30 years and of whom 55% were male. HRS cells expressed CD20 in 132 (22%) of 598 patients with classical HD. When any percentage of CD20 expression in HRS cells was used as a cutoff, the 5-year failure-free survival (FFS) for positive versus negative tumors was 86% versus 84%, respectively, for 302 patients treated with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine or equivalent regimens (P =.7 by log-rank test), 74% versus 77%, respectively, for 181 patients treated with mitoxantrone, vincristine, vinblastine, and prednisone and radiotherapy (P =.7 by log-rank test), 74% versus 84%, respectively, for 54 patients treated with MOPP (P =.4 by log-rank test), and 77% versus 88% for 53 patients treated only with radiotherapy (P =.5 by log-rank test). The 5-year FFS was not statistically different when cutoffs of 5% up to 50% for CD20-positive HRS cells were used.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CD20 is expressed by HRS cells in 22% of patients with classical HD but is not associated with different FFS after treatment with equivalent regimens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Lymphoma-Myeloma, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: George Z
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Rassidakis
authors.forename: L Jeffrey
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Viviani
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bonfante
authors.forename: Gian-Paolo
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Nadali
authors.forename: Theodoros P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Vassilakopoulos
authors.forename: Ofelia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mesina
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herling
authors.forename: Maria K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Angelopoulou
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giardini
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chilosi
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kittas
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
authors.forename: M Alma
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Romaguera
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bonadonna
authors.forename: Alessandro M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gianni
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pizzolo
authors.forename: Gerassimos A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Pangalis
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cabanillas
authors.forename: Andreas H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Sarris
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018951:Antigens, CD20 / Q000032:analysis*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002648:Child; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003606:Dacarbazine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011241:Prednisone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016539:Reed-Sternberg Cells / Q000737:chemistry*; D015996:Survival Rate; D014747:Vinblastine / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D018951:Antigens, CD20; D001761:Bleomycin; D014747:Vinblastine; D003606:Dacarbazine; D004317:Doxorubicin; D011241:Prednisone