Evaluation of NF-κB subunit expression and signaling pathway activation demonstrates that p52 expression confers better outcome in germinal center B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in association with CD30 and BCL2 functions

Chi Young Ok, Zijun Y Xu-Monette, Ling Li, Ganiraju C Manyam, Santiago Montes-Moreno, Alexandar Tzankov, Carlo Visco, Karen Dybkær, Mark J Routbort, Li Zhang, April Chiu, Attilio Orazi, Youli Zu, Govind Bhagat, Kristy L Richards, Eric D Hsi, William W L Choi, J Han van Krieken, Jooryung Huh, Maurilio PonzoniAndrés J M Ferreri, Ben M Parsons, Huilan Rao, Michael B Møller, Jane N Winter, Miguel A Piris, Sa A Wang, L Jeffrey Medeiros, Ken H Young

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17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is a transcription factor with a well-described oncogenic role. Study for each of five NF-κB pathway subunits was only reported on small cohorts in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In this large cohort (n=533) of patients with de novo DLBCL, we evaluated the protein expression frequency, gene expression signature, and clinical implication for each of these five NF-κB subunits. Expression of p50, p52, p65, RELB, and c-Rel was 34%, 12%, 20%, 14%, and 23%, whereas p50/p65, p50/c-Rel, and p52/RELB expression was 11%, 11%, and 3%, respectively. NF-κB subunits were expressed in both germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) and activated B-cell-like (ABC) DLBCL, but p50 and p50/c-Rel were associated with ABC-DLBCL. p52, RELB, and p52/RELB expressions were associated with CD30 expression. p52 expression was negatively associated with BCL2 (B-cell lymphoma 2) expression and BCL2 rearrangement. Although p52 expression was associated with better progression-free survival (PFS) (P=0.0170), singular expression of the remaining NF-κB subunits alone did not show significant prognostic impact in the overall DLBCL cohort. Expression of p52/RELB was associated with better overall survival (OS) and PFS (P=0.0307 and P=0.0247). When cases were stratified into GCB- and ABC-DLBCL, p52 or p52/RELB dimer expression status was associated with better OS and PFS (P=0.0134 and P=0.0124) only within the GCB subtype. However, multivariate analysis did not show p52 expression to be an independent prognostic factor. Beneficial effect of p52 in GCB-DLBC appears to be its positive correlation with CD30 and negative correlation with BCL2 expression. Gene expression profiling (GEP) showed that p52(+) GCB-DLBCL was distinct from p52(-) GCB-DLBCL. Collectively, our data suggest that DLBCL patients with p52 expression might not benefit from therapy targeting the NF-κB pathway.Modern Pathology advance online publication, 26 June 2015; doi:10.1038/modpathol.2015.76.

Original languageEnglish
JournalModern Pathology
Volume28
Issue number9
Pages (from-to)1202-1213
Number of pages12
ISSN0893-3952
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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