Overexpression of , , and in Circulating Tumor Cells Derived from Patients with DLBCL Decreases Event-Free Survival.

PURPOSE

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogeneous malignant lymphoid neoplasm and is the most common subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in adults. More than half of patients with DLBCL can achieve remission with standard R-CHOP regimes; however, approximately 30-40% of patients are still failing this standard therapy, which remains as an important cause of progression and mortality of this disease. It is necessary to have diagnostic and monitoring tools that allow us to improve the accuracy of prognosis in these patients. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) identification through molecular biomarkers is one of the novel strategies that have been used in other types of cancer, and we aim to use this tool to analyze the potential role in DLBCL.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We analyzed 138 blood samples of patients with DLBCL, of which CTCs were isolated by density gradient for subsequent detection and quantitation of molecular biomarkers using RT-qPCR with TaqMan probes. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier curves.

RESULTS

We found overexpression of and genes, as well as the presence of and genes. and expression were associated with a minor OS (85.7% vs 98.1%, p = 0.002). The overexpression of and was related to a minor EFS (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

This study showed that in liquid biopsies analyzed, the presence of CTCs can be confirmed through molecular biomarkers, and it has an impact on OS and EFs, making this detection useful in the follow-up and prognosis of patients with DLBCL.