Clinical Impact of the Differentiation Profile Assessed by Immunophenotyping in Patients with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

To analyze the relationship between immunophenotyping profile and main clinicopathological features and outcome in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), we studied 128 patients (59 men, 69 women; median age 65 years) consecutively diagnosed with de novo DLBCL in a single institution. Cells from each patient were immunostained with CD20, CD79a, CD5, CD10, bcl-6, MUM1, CD138, bcl-2, p53, p27, and Ki-67 antibodies. Four immunophenotyping profiles were distinguished according to the pattern of differentiation: germinal center-CD10(+) (GC-CD10(+); CD10(+)/Bcl-6(+)/MUM1(-)/CD138(-)), germinal center-CD10(-) (GC-CD10(-); CD10(-)/Bcl-6(+)/ MUM1(-)/CD138(-)), post-germinal center (pGC; CD10(-)/bcl-6(+/-)/ MUM1(+)/CD138(-)), and plasmablastic (CD10(-)/bcl-6(-)/MUM1(+)/CD138(+)). Rearrangement of bcl-2 was studied by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 57 patients. Single-antigen expression was as follows: CD5, 2%; CD10, 21%; bcl-6, 72%; MUM1, 54%; CD138, 2%; bcl-2, 59%; p53, 28%; p27, 40%. Distribution according to differentiation profiles was as follows: GC-CD10(+), 24 patients, GC-CD10-, 30 patients; pGC, 60 patients; plasmablastic, 2 patients; other patterns, 12 patients. The pGC profile was associated with primary nodal presentation and immunoblastic morphology, whereas GC-CD10(+) tumors showed disseminated disease, centroblastic morphology, bcl-2 rearrangement, and lower Ki-67 proliferative index. GC-CD10(-) patients more often presented with primary extranodal origin, early stage, normal lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, and low or low/intermediate International Prognostic Index (IPI) scores than the others. However, no significant difference was found in terms of response or overall survival (OS) according to these profiles. Expression of bcl-2 was associated with advanced stage, high or high-intermediate IPI, and poor OS. Expression of bcl-2 maintained predictive value in multivariate analysis, with stage and LDH. In conclusion, differentiation profile was associated with particular clinicopathological features but was not essential to predicting outcome in DLBCL patients.