Cell of origin fails to predict survival in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) includes two prognostically important subtypes, the germinal center B-cell (GCB) and the non-GCB types. The aim of this study was to evaluate immunohistochemical approaches for predicting the survival of patients with DLBCL following autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT). We identified 62 patients with DLBCL who either had an initial complete remission (17 patients) or received salvage chemotherapy for relapsed or refractory disease (45 patients), followed by AHSCT. Tissue microarrays were immunostained with monoclonal antibodies against GCET1, CD10, BCL6, MUM1, FOXP1 and LMO2. Using the Hans algorithm, we classified 50% of the cases as GCB type, whereas the Choi algorithm classified 58% as GCB type and LMO2 was positive in 69%. However, no significant differences were found in the 5-year overall or event-free survivals using any of these approaches. In conclusion, cell of origin fails to predict survival of DLBCL patients treated with AHSCT.