Abstract
Survivin is an inhibitor of apoptosis whose expression may be associated with inferior outcome in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated without rituximab. Caspase-3 is the final caspase of the apoptotic cascade and its pattern of expression may also be related to patients’ outcome. In this study we investigated immunohistochemical expression of survivin and caspase-3 (CPP32) in 57 patients with DLBCL treated with rituximab and CHOP (R-CHOP). According to previously published criteria, we separately analyzed correlation of different types of survivin expression with patients’ outcome. Nuclear survivin was expressed in only 26% of cases, cytoplasmic survivin was expressed in 81% of cases while application of immunoreactivity scoring system yielded 58% of survivin positive cases. Caspase-3 was expressed in 77% of cases. There were no significant correlations between any type of survivin expression and response to treatment or survival of the patients. The expression of caspase-3 was also not associated with patients’ outcome. We conclude that survivin and caspase-3 have no significant prognostic significance in patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP.
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Abbreviations
- NHL:
-
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- DLBCL:
-
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
- PS:
-
Performance status
- ECOG:
-
Eastern Oncology Cooperative Group
- IPI:
-
International prognostic index
- LDH:
-
Lactate dehydrogenase
- R-CHOP:
-
Rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicine, vincristin, prednisone
- IAP:
-
Inhibitor of apoptosis
- IRS:
-
Immunoreactivity scoring system
- (u)CR:
-
(unconfirmed) complete remission
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This work was supported by grants from the Croatian Ministry of Science 108-1081872-1908 and 108-0000000-3426.
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This article is in memory of our pathologist Marin Nola (1964–2008) who started this study.
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Mitrović, Z., Ilić, I., Aurer, I. et al. Prognostic Significance of Survivin and Caspase-3 Immunohistochemical Expression in Patients with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Treated with Rituximab and CHOP. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 17, 243–247 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-010-9304-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-010-9304-4