Ki67 proliferation index in follicular lymphoma is associated with favorable outcome in patients treated with R-CHOP

Abstract

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is a common, indolent small B-cell lymphoma. While the Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index is widely used, reliable prognostic and predictive biomarkers are needed. A recent study suggested that architectural patterns of CD10, BCL6, and Ki67 expression may correlate with progression-free survival (PFS) in FL patients treated with chemotherapy-free regimens. We examined the prognostic and predictive utility of architectural patterns of CD10, BCL6, Ki67, and FOXP1 in 90 patients treated with immunochemotherapy (bendamustine-rituximab [BR] and R-cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone [CHOP]). We found that high follicular Ki67 (≥30%) was associated with longer PFS in the subgroup of patients treated with R-CHOP but not among those treated with BR. Validation of this biomarker may support routine use of Ki67 as a predictive marker in FL.

Keywords:

• Follicular lymphoma
• prognostic biomarkers
• predictive biomarkers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.