Prognostic significance of survivin expression in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas

Survivin is an inhibitor of apoptosis overexpressed in various human cancer s but undetectable in normal differentiated tissues. A potential expression and prognostic significance of survivin was studied in 222 patients with d iffuse large B-cell lymphomas (centroblastic, 96%; immunoblastic, 4%). All patients were enrolled between 1987 and 1993 (median follow-up, 7 years) in the LNH87 protocol of the Groupe d'Etudes des Lymphomes de l'Adulte (GELA) and treated either with the reference ACVBP arm (doxorubicin, cyclophospha mide, vindesine, bleomycin, and prednisone) [AU3A] (n = 79) or other experi mental anthracycline-containing regimens (n = 143). The characteristics of these patients were median age of 56 years; serum lactate dehydrogenase (LD H) greater than 1N, 60%; stage III-IV, 55%; performance status, according t o the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) scale, more than 1, 23%; ex tranodal sites more than 1, 29%; mass more than 10 cm, 44%; bone marrow inv olvement, 15%, Of the 222 patients studied, 134 (60%) revealed survivin exp ression in virtually all tumor cells by immunohistochemistry. The overall B -year survival rate was significantly lower in patients with survivin expre ssion than in those without (40% vs 54%, P = .02). Multivariate analysis in corporating prognostic factors from the International Prognostic Index (IPI ) identified survivin expression as an independent predictive parameter on survival (P = .03, relative risk [RR] = 1.6) in addition to LDH (P = .02, R R = 1.6), stage (P = .03, RR = 1.7), and ECOG scale (P = .05, RR = 1.6), A second analysis incorporating IPI as a unique parameter demonstrated that s urvivin expression (P = .02, RR = 1.6) remained a prognostic factor for sur vival independently of IPI (P = .001, RR = 1.5), Survivin expression may be considered a new unfavorable prognostic factor of diffuse large B-cell lym phoma, (C) 2000 by The American Society of Hematology.