Abstract
This study evaluated the effect of age and cell of origin on the prognostic significance of Ki-67 labeling index (Ki-67 LI) on overall survival (OS) of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in a cohort of 697 patients treated with rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (R-CHOP). Multivariate analysis revealed no prognostic significance of high Ki-67 LI (≥ 85%) for OS. However, on subgroup analysis, high Ki-67 LI was significantly associated with poor OS in late-elderly patients (aged ≥ 70 years) (p = 0.021) and non-germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) subtype (p = 0.015). In particular, high Ki-67 LI was associated with a poor prognosis in late-elderly patients with non-GCB subtype. No correlation was observed in young adults (aged < 60 years) or early-elderly (aged 60–70 years) patients or GCB subtype. The present study shows that high Ki-67 LI is a risk factor for poor OS in the late-elderly age group and non-GCB subtype in patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP.
Potential conflict of interest
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This study was supported by a grant (2011-090) from the Asan Institute for Life Sciences, Seoul, Korea.
Supplementary material available online
Supplementary Tables showing further data.