Expression of LFA-1 identifies different prognostic subgroups in patients with advanced follicle center lymphoma (FCL).

In a retrospective immunohistochemical study based on 27 patients with stage IV follicle center lymphoma (FCL) the expression of CD44standard (CD44s), LFA-1 (CD11a, CD18), VLA-4 (CD49d, CD29) and ICAM-1 (CD54) was analysed on lymphoma cells in bone marrow infiltrates. The results were correlated to clinical data and overall survival. Our data demonstrate that the expression of LFA-1 on lymphoma cells is predictive for the prognosis of patients with advanced FCL. In detail, patients exhibiting weak to moderate expression (+/++) of CD11 and CD18 showed a significantly shorter median survival (51 months and 33 months, respectively) than did those presenting with strong expression ( ) of the LFA-1 adhesion molecule (P = 0.04 and P = 0.0051, respectively). Furthermore, multivariate analysis identified CD18 as a new independent prognostic factor in patients with advanced FCL. Our findings emphasize the relevance of adhesion molecules for the pathology of FCL and give further support for their impact on clinical course and overall survival.