Articles ( Prognostic and Predictive Factors ) CCR - 10 - 2999 Expression of nm 23 - H 1 is associated with poor prognosis in peripheral T - cell lymphoma , not otherwise specified

Purpose: We examined whether nm23-H1 is a prognostic factor of peripheral T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS). Experimental Design: We studied 102 consecutive, untreated PTCL-NOS patients from 1998 to 2008. The expression of nm23-H1 and TIA-1 was studied by immunohistochemistry. Results: nm23-H1 was positive in 44.1%, and TIA-1 in 78.4% of the PTCL-NOS patients. nm23-H1 expression was not correlated with age, PS, LDH level, or stage, but was significantly correlated with the Prognostic Index for T-cell Lymphoma. The serum nm23-H1 level was 43.44 ng/ml in the cytoplasmic nm23-H1-strongly positive, 24.32 ng/ml in the cytoplasmic nm23-H1-moderately positive, and 13.64ng/ml in the cytoplasmic nm23-H1-negative patients. The nm23-H1-positive group had significantly shorter overall survival (OS). TIA-1 had no prognostic impact on five-year OS rates. OS was significantly shorter in patients with the following clinicopathologic features: age≧ 60 years, PS of 2-4, LDH≧normal, bone marrow involvement, or nm23-H1-positive lymphoma. Multivariate analysis confirmed nm23-H1 expression to be an independent prognostic factor. Conclusions: The nm23-H1 protein may be an important prognostic factor in PTCL-NOS. Because our results suggested that nm23-HI is produced by lymphoma cells, we expect to see the development of new treatments targeting nm23 overexpression.