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High numbers of tumor-associated macrophages correlate with poor prognosis in patients with mature T- and natural killer cell lymphomas

Medical Oncology volume 29, pages 3522–3528 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Various studies on lymphoma microenvironment have demonstrated the prognostic impact of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in patients with B-cell lymphoma. Little is known about the correlation between TAMs and treatment outcome in mature T- and natural killer (NK) cell lymphomas. We analyzed the prognostic relevance of CD68+ TAMs by immunohistochemical analysis in 64 Chinese patients with mature T- and NK-cell lymphomas. Higher number of infiltrated TAMs was significantly related to B symptoms and extranodal involvement (p < 0.05). The TAMs content did not differ significantly between pathological subtypes. Using the mean value of TAMs per high-power field (hpf) as the cutoff point (87/hpf), 36 cases (56.2 %) were categorized as low level of TAMs content and 28 cases (43.8%) as high level. Patients with high level of TAMs content had a worse 5-year overall survival compared to those with low level (28.1 vs. 44.3 %, p = 0.039). In multivariate analysis, TAMs content remained an independent biological variable for survival distinct from the International Prognostic Index (Cox multivariate model, p = 0.009). High TAMs content indicated an adverse overall outcome in mature T- and NK-cell lymphomas. Our results show that expression of stromal TAMs may become a useful marker for prognosis of mature T- and NK-cell lymphomas.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the treating physicians in the Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-Sen University, for their assistance.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, 600 Tian He Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Ze-Xiao Lin & Xiang-Yuan Wu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Department of Medical Oncology, Lymphoma Centre, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-Sen University, 651 Dong Feng Road East, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Bing Bai, Qi-Chun Cai, Qing-Qing Cai, Xiao-Xiao Wang & Hui-Qiang Huang

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  1. Ze-Xiao Lin
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  2. Bing Bai
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Correspondence to Hui-Qiang Huang.

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Lin, ZX., Bai, B., Cai, QC. et al. High numbers of tumor-associated macrophages correlate with poor prognosis in patients with mature T- and natural killer cell lymphomas. Med Oncol 29, 3522–3528 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-012-0244-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-012-0244-6

Keywords

  • Tumor-associated macrophages
  • Mature T- and NK-cell lymphomas
  • Tumor microenvironment
  • Prognosis
  • CD68