Clinicopathologic analysis of CD10+and CD10-diffuse large B-cell lymphoma - Identification of a high-risk subset with coexpression of CD10 and bcl-2

We analyzed 53 cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) to determine whether expression of CD10 is a relevant biologic parameter Tumor morpholog ic features were assessed semiquantitatively. Bcl-2 protein expression was studied by immunohistochemical analysis. The presence or absence of CD10 by flow cytometry was correlated with clinical and pathologic characteristics . CD10+ (23 cases) and CD10-(30 cases) DLBCLs were indistinguishable based on age, sex, extranodal presentation, B symptoms, clinical stage, morpholog ic features, or bcl-2 expression. However, cases with a CD10+ phenotype sho wed a significantly lower rate of complete remission. Cases expressing bcl- 2 showed trends toward a lower rate of complete remission and poorer overal l survival. Examination of CD10 and bcl-2 interaction revealed that the pro gnostic effects for both of these antigens were due to a subset of CD10+ bc l-2-positive cases. Compared with cases expressing one or neither of these markers, patients with dual-positive tumors had a poorer complete response rate to initial therapy and strikingly worse overall survival. While CD10and CD10- DLBCLs are similar with regard to a variety of clinical and patho logic features, CD10 and bcl-2 coexpressing tumors are an extremely high-ri sk subset based on response to therapy and overall survival.