title: Single nucleotide polymorphisms of CD20 gene and their relationship with clinical efficacy of R-CHOP in patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  R-CHOP has significantly improved survival rates of patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) by ~20% as compared to CHOP. CD20 antigen, highly expressed on more than 80% of B-cell lymphomas, is the target for rituximab. The goal of our study was to examine polymorphism in the CD20 gene in Chinese DLBCL population and whether CD20 gene polymorphism is associated with clinical response to R-CHOP.
  
  
  METHODS
  CD20 gene polymorphism was detected in the entire coding regions including 6 exons by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-sequencing assay in 164 patients with DLBCL. Among them, 129 patients treated with R-CHOP as frontline therapy (R ≥ 4 cycles) were assessable for the efficacy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Polymorphisms at three single nucleotides (SNP) were identified in the entire coding regions of the CD20 gene in the 164 patients. One of them, CD20 Exon2 [216] was found to be highly correlated with response to R-CHOP. Patients with homozygous C genotype showed a trend toward higher overall response rate than others with CT plus TT genotype (90.6% vs. 79.5%; P =0.166). A trend toward higher complete remission (CR) rate was observed in patients with homozygous C genotype (67.4%) compared with CT plus TT genotype (47.1%) (P = 0.091).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that there are 3 SNPs in CDS of the CD20 gene in Chinese DLBCL population. The CC genotype at Exon2 [216] appears to be associated with favourable response to R-CHOP.
authors.affiliation: Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Central Laboratory, Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing 100142, China.
authors.forename: Huirong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine Oncology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing 100034, China.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Lymphoma, Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing 100142, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Lymphoma, Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing 100142, China.
authors.forename: Zhiying
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Lymphoma, Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing 100142, China.
authors.forename: Yuqin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Department of Lymphoma, Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing 100142, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu