Cellular (FLICE) like inhibitory protein (cFLIP) expression in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma identifies a poor prognostic subset, but fails to predict the molecular subtype

Immunohistochemistry can sub‐classify diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) into germinal centre B‐cell like (GCB) and non‐GCB subtypes. The latter consists predominately of the activated B‐cell like subgroup in which nuclear factor kappa‐B activation is its characteristic. Expression of cellular caspase 8 (FLICE)‐like inhibitory protein (cFLIP), a caspase 8 homologue, is regulated by nuclear factor kappa‐B signalling, and it is the main inhibitor of Fas ligand activated apoptosis. To determine if cFLIP expression was confined to non‐GCB subtype, we studied 66 cases of DLBCL. cFLIP expression showed no significant correlation to DLBCL subtypes (GCB or non‐GCB) but was associated with a worse clinical outcome. For cFLIP positive and negative patients, the five‐year event free survival was 20 and 31%, respectively (p = 0.049), and the five‐year overall survival was 20 and 57%, respectively (p = 0.041). Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.