title: Prognostic significance of serum beta-2 microglobulin in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Elevated serum beta-2 microglobulin (β2-M) has previously been reported in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients. This study examined the association between serum β2-M and the prognosis of NHL and analyzed its predictive value.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 287 NHL patients from Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, participated in a prospective cohort study between 2008 and 2011. Overall survival (OS) was compared between NHL patients with high and normal β2-M levels using the log-rank test. Three standard Cox regression models including the International Prognostic Index (IPI) score, β2-M or IPI score+β2-M as independent variables were constructed. The time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curves method and C index were used to examine the tendency of the models' predictive accuracy over time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  NHL patients with elevated β2-M values had worse OS (p<0.001) and higher mortality risk (HR=1.93, 95% CI 1.37-2.77, p<0.001) than patients with normal β2-M values. There were statistically significant differences between the C indexes for the models with IPI+β2-M, IPI or β2-M alone (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrated an association between serum β2-M and NHL prognosis. Combining β2-M with IPI may help to improve the prognostic accuracy of NHL.
authors: Department of Medical Statistics, School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Wu
authors: Tong
authors: T
authors: Wang
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Gui
authors: Hualiang
authors: H
authors: Lin
authors: Kaipeng
authors: K
authors: Xie
authors: Hui
authors: H
authors: Wang
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Gao
authors: Xiuxiu
authors: X
authors: Zhang
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Liu
authors: Ting
authors: T
authors: Han
authors: Yuan
authors: Y
authors: Tian
authors: Lifang
authors: L
authors: Hou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019540:Area Under Curve; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase