Abstract:
Objective To evaluate the characteristics, treatments, and survival outcomes of patients with high-grade B-cell lymphoma (HGBL-DH/TH) with MYC, BCL2, and/or BCL6 rearrangements.
Methods Overall, 20 patients with HGBL-DH/TH who were diagnosed and treated at Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital from January 2015 to November 2020 were included. Baseline characteristics, pathology findings, and survival outcomes were retrospectively analyzed.
Results The median age of the patients was 52(23–68) years, and 55% of patients were male. Fifteen (75%) patients had advanced Ann Arbor stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ HGBL, 16 (80%) had extranodal invasion, and 15 (75%) had increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels. The best objective response rate (ORR) and complete response (CR) rate in the entire cohort were 75% and 60%, respectively. The median follow-up duration was 27.7 (3.8–74.6) months, and the 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 55.0% and 59.1%, respectively. The survival outcomes of patients with limited stage were better than those of patients with advanced stage. The best ORR in the two groups were 100% and 61.5%, and the 2-year OS rates were 100% and 45.7%, respectively. The 12 patients who achieved first complete response (CR1) after induction therapy maintained continuous complete response (CCR), except for one patient with early relapse, and their OS rate was significantly better than that of patients without CR (P<0.001). The 2-year OS rates were 91.7% and 25.0%, respectively; therefore, the prognosis of relapsed or refractory (R/R) patients was extremely poor, and seven patients died owing to disease progression, except for one patient who achieved CCR after salvage therapy.
Conclusions Patients with HGBL-DH/TH had the characteristics of advanced Ann Arbor stage, frequent extranodal invasion, abnormal LDH levels and short OS. The prognosis of patients with limited tumor stage was better than that of those with advanced stage. CR1 indicated a much better survival benefit, while patients with R/Rdisease lacked effective salvage therapies and had poor prognosis.