Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 14, 593-599, Copyright © 1996 by American Society of Clinical Oncology
Significance of cytogenetic findings for the clinical outcome in patients with T-cell lymphoma of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy type
B Schlegelberger, T Zwingers, K Hohenadel, D Henne-Bruns, N Schmitz, T Haferlach, C Tirier, H Bartels, R Sonnen and R Kuse
Department of Human Genetics, University of Kiel, Germany.
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of
cytogenetic findings for the clinical outcome of patients with
Angioimmunoblastic Lymphadenopathy (AILD)-Type T-cell lymphoma. MATERIALS
AND METHODS: In a retrospective analysis, the cytogenetic findings of 50
patients with AILD-type T-cell lymphoma were correlated with the frequency
of spontaneous and therapy-induced remissions and with survival using the
statistical methods of Kaplan and Meier and the model of Cox for
multivariate analysis. Treatment was not uniform because the patients were
treated in different hospitals during a period of 8 years and because a
standard therapy has not yet been established. RESULTS: The following
cytogenetic findings were associated with a significantly lower incidence
of therapy-induced remissions and a significantly shorter survival
duration: presence of aberrant metaphases in unstimulated cultures (P = .04
for both parameters); clones with an additional X chromosome (P = .0001 and
P = .03, respectively); structural aberrations of the short arm of
chromosome 1, preferentially involving 1p31-32 (P < .001 and P = .04,
respectively); and complex aberrant clones with more than four aberrations
(P = .0003 and P = .005, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that
these cytogenetic findings had a significant influence on survival, but
therapy modalities did not. Only the presence of complex aberrant clones
was an independent prognostic factor. Trisomy 3 had no effect on survival,
but patients without trisomy 5 (P = .08) tended to live longer. CONCLUSION:
This is the first study that seems to indicate that cytogenetic findings
have prognostic significance in AILD-type T-cell lymphoma. These results
must be proven in prospective studies of homogeneously treated patients.