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. 2023 Jul-Aug;37(4):1735-1742.
doi: 10.21873/invivo.13261.

Prognostic Significance of Immune-checkpoint Molecule PD-L1 in Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Clinicopathologic Study of 120 Cases

Vaclav Kubes  1 , Leos Kren  1 , Filip Sokol  1 , Jozef Michalka  2 , Jan Muzik  3 , Tomas Arpas  2 , Zdenka Krenova  4 , Zdenek Kral  5
Affiliations

Prognostic Significance of Immune-checkpoint Molecule PD-L1 in Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Clinicopathologic Study of 120 Cases

Vaclav Kubes et al. In Vivo. 2023 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Background/aim: Classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is a common B-cell malignancy. Despite the good prognosis, in some patients the standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy-based approach does not lead to long-term remission, and these patients eventually relapse. Moreover, the primary refractory disease is of major concern regarding prognosis.

Patients and methods: We performed a retrospective analysis to evaluate PD-L1 expression in 120 patients with classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL).

Results: The median follow-up of the entire group of patients was 90 months. After initial therapy, complete remission was achieved in 113 (94.2%) patients. During the follow-up, cHL relapse/refractory disease was reported in 23 (19.2%) cases. A total of five patients died during the follow-up period, all from cHL progression. When determining PD-L1 expression on Hodgkin-Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells, 37 cases (30.8%) were evaluated as negative, and 83 cases (69.2%) as positive. In the negative PD-L1 group of patients, no cHL relapse/refractory disease was observed during the follow-up period. However, out of 83 patients with positive PD-L1 expression on HRS cells, 23 (28%) showed relapse/refractory cHL.

Conclusion: A significantly higher relapse rate was observed in PD-L1-positive patients diagnosed with cHL.

Keywords: Classic Hodgkin lymphoma; PD-L1 expression; overall survival; relapse; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The Authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Relapse-free survival of classic Hodgkin lymphoma patients according to PD-L1 positivity in Hodgkin-Reed-Sternberg cells.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Relationship of PD-L1 positivity in background cells and stage of the disease (p<0.032).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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