Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter to the Editor
  • Published:

Rituximab with chemotherapy improves survival of non-germinal center type untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Leukemia volume 21, pages 2563–2566 (2007)Cite this article

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogeneous disorder that can be subdivided into several subtypes based on DNA microarray-based gene expression profiling: germinal center B-cell-like (GC) DLBCL and activated B-cell-like (ABC) DLBCL. Patients with GC DLBCL have been shown to exhibit a more favorable clinical outcome than patients with non-GC DLBCL.1 As with cDNA microarray, immunohistochemistry can also be used to distinguish the GC/non-GC subtype of DLBCL and to predict survival,2 but there have been few reports comparing clinical outcomes in cases of GC DLBCL and non-GC DLBCL treated with rituximab.3, 4 We retrospectively analyzed the treatment effect of rituximab with conventional chemotherapy on these two DLBCL subtypes by means of immunohistochemistry.

We analyzed patients with untreated DLBCL who were diagnosed according to the WHO classification.5 Patients who were diagnosed in our hospital between 2001 and 2005 were treated with rituximab plus TCOP (R-TCOP) (cyclophosphamide, therarubicin, vincristine and prednisolone), and those who were diagnosed in our hospital between 1997 and 2002 were treated with TCOP alone. R-TCOP consisted of a combination of rituximab (375 mg/m2 administered on day 1 of each chemotherapy cycle) and TCOP (cyclophosphamide 750, therarubicin 50 and vincristine 1.4 mg/m2 administered on day 2 and prednisolone 100 mg/m2 administered on days 2–6). TCOP consisted of TCOP alone. We reduced the chemotherapeutic dosage to two out of three patients who were more than 65 years of age. Tumor response was assessed at the end of treatment according to the International Workshop criteria.6

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Alizadeh AA, Eisen MB, Davis RE, Ma C, Lossos IS, Rosenwald A et al. Distinct types of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma identified by gene expression profiling. Nature 2000; 403: 503–511.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hans CP, Weisenburger DD, Greiner TC, Gascoyne RD, Delabie J, Ott G et al. Confirmation of the molecular classification of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma by immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray. Blood 2004; 103: 275–282.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Nyman H, Adde M, Karjalainen-Lindsberg ML, Taskien M, Berglund M, Amini RM et al. Prognostic impact of immunohistochemically-defined germinal center phenotype in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients treated with immunochemotherapy. Blood 2007; 109: 4930–4935.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Liu YY, Leboeuf C, Shi JY, Li JM, Wang L, Shen Y ; et al. Rituximab plus CHOP R-CHOP) overcomes PRDM1-associated resistance to chemotherapy in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Blood 2007; e-pub ahead of print.

  5. Harris NL, Jaffe ES, Diebold J, Flandrin G, Muller-Hermelink HK, Vardiman J et al. World Health Organization classification of neoplastic diseases of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues: report of the Clinical Advisory Committee meeting – Airlie House, Virginia, November 1997. J Clin Oncol 1999; 17: 3835–3849.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Cheson BD, Horning SJ, Coiffier B, Shipp MA, Fisher RI, Connors JM et al. Report of an international workshop to standardize response criteria for non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. NCI sponsored international working group. J Clin Oncol 1999; 17: 1244.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Saito B, Shiozawa E, Yamochi-Onizuka T, Adachi D, Nakamaki T, Tomoyasu S et al. Efficacy of rituximab plus chemotherapy in follicular lymphoma depends on Ki-67 expression. Pathol Int 2004; 54: 667–674.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Shiozawa E, Yamochi-Onizuka T, Yamochi T, Yamamoto Y, Naitoh H, Kawakami K et al. Disappearance of CD21-positive follicular dendritic cells preceding the transformation of follicular lymphoma: immunohistological study of the transformation using CD21, p53, Ki-67, and P-glycoprotein. Pathol Res Pract 2003; 199: 293–302.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Davis RE, Brown KD, Siebenlist U, Staudt LM . Constitutive nuclear factor kappaB activity is required for survival of activated B cell-like diffuse large B cell lymphoma cells. J Exp Med 2001; 194: 1861–1874.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Jazirehi AR, Huerta-Yepez S, Cheng G, Bonavida B . Rituximab (chimeric anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody) inhibits the constitutive nuclear factor-{kappa}B signaling pathway in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma B-cell lines: role in sensitization to chemotherapeutic drug-induced apoptosis. Cancer Res 2005; 65: 264–276.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    B Saito, T Usui, H Nakashima, T Maeda, N Hattori, J Shimozuma, D Adachi, T Nakamaki & S Tomoyasu

  2. Second,

    E Shiozawa, T Yamochi-Onizuka, M Takimoto & H Ota

  3. Department of Pathology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    E Shiozawa, T Yamochi-Onizuka, M Takimoto & H Ota

Authors
  1. B Saito
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. E Shiozawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. T Usui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H Nakashima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. T Maeda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. N Hattori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. J Shimozuma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. D Adachi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. T Yamochi-Onizuka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. M Takimoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. T Nakamaki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. H Ota
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. S Tomoyasu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B Saito.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Saito, B., Shiozawa, E., Usui, T. et al. Rituximab with chemotherapy improves survival of non-germinal center type untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Leukemia 21, 2563–2566 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404844

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404844

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links