T-cell subsets in lymph nodes identify a subgroup of follicular lymphoma patients with favorable outcome

Abstract

We have analyzed in lymph nodes at diagnosis of 75 patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) the relationship between different T-cell subpopulations, assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and flow cytometry (FC), with the outcome. CD4⁺ cells were the most abundant T-cells in tumor tissue sections, whilst CD57⁺ cells were the less frequent. In addition to nonambulatory performance status, advanced stage and FLIPI, low CD4⁺CD57⁺/CD4⁺ ratio (p = .041), and low CD4⁺/CD8⁺ ratio (p = .008) predicted poor overall survival (OS). Multivariate analysis showed that CD4⁺CD57⁺/CD4⁺ ratio was the most important variable for OS. In conclusion, T-cell subpopulations, including CD4⁺CD57⁺/CD4⁺ ratio analyzed by FC, could identify FL patients with favorable outcome.

Keywords:

• Follicular lymphoma
• prognosis
• CD4⁺CD57⁺ cells

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2016.1217525.