What we should know about natural killer/T-cell lymphomas

Abstract

Natural-killer/T cell lymphoma (NKTCL) is the most common extranodal lymphoma with highly aggressive clinical outcome. System biology techniques provide novel insights into the pathogenesis, risk stratification, and clinical management in NKTCL. Comparative genomic hybridization analysis reveal most frequent deletion of chromosome 6q21. Whole-exome sequencing studies identify recurrent somatic gene mutations, involving RNA helicases, tumor suppressors, JAK-STAT pathway molecules, and epigenetic modifiers. Genome-wide association study reports strongest association of HLA-DPB1 rs9277378 with lymphomagenesis. Alterations of oncogenic signaling pathways as well as epigenetic dysregulation of microRNA and long non-coding RNAs are also observed in NKTCL. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the major etiology of NKTCL and the pathogenic mechanism remains unclear. Different risk stratification models are proposed based on clinical parameters (IPI, PINK, and PINK-E, etc.) or biomarkers (Ki67, C-reactive protein level, and EBV DNA, etc.). Therapeutic strategies vary according to disease stage, including radiotherapy, asparaginase-based chemotherapy, hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation, targeted therapy (immune checkpoints inhibitors, and histone deacetylation inhibitors, etc.). Future investigations will be emphasized on EBV-related pathogenesis of NKTCL, prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers, as well as multi-center clinical trials, so as to optimize personalized treatment of NKTCL in the era of precision medicine.