title: Bcl-2 gene expression as a predictor of outcome in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
abstract: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive lymphoma with a 5-year survival rate of 35%-60%. Various clinical factors included in the International Prognostic Index have failed to identify the patients with DLBCL who will not benefit from the standard R-CHOP (cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone plus rituximab) treatment regimen. Bcl-2 has been implicated in conferring resistance to chemotherapy in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and is therefore a candidate prognostic marker in DLBCL. To identify the correlation between Bcl-2 expression and response to rituximab-containing treatment regimens, histologic materials were analyzed from 292 elderly patients with confirmed DLBCL. Of these, 155 patients had received R-CHOP (53%) and 137 had received CHOP (47%). One hundred ninety-three patients (66%) were found to express high levels of Bcl-2 protein in > 50% of the tumor cells. Of the 193 Bcl-2-positive patients, the patients who received R-CHOP had a better 5-year overall rate than patients treated with CHOP (56% vs. 42%; P = 0.01), whereas in the patients with Bcl-2-negative disease, there was no statistically significant difference in the 5-year overall survival rates between the R-CHOP and CHOP regimens (58% vs. 52%; P = 0.6). Therefore, the addition of rituximab to the standard chemotherapy regimen seems to have overcome the Bcl-2-associated resistance to chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: CIG Media Group, LP, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Latha
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shivakumar
authors.forename: James O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Armitage
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D016393:Lymphoma, B-Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics*; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics*; D011241:Prednisone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014750:Vincristine / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D014750:Vincristine; D004317:Doxorubicin; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D011241:Prednisone