Abstract
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the elderly is defined as patients older than 50 years alone. However, recent studies showed young patients with sound immune status could also be affected. In this study, we investigated the clinical features and outcomes of patients with EBV positive DLBCL in the different age groups using different EBER cut-off values. The prevalence of EBV positive DLBCL was 14.0% (35/250) and 10.4% (26/250) for EBER cut-off of 20% and 50%, respectively. With both EBER cut-off values, patients with EBV DLBCL shared many unfavorable prognostic characteristics, regardless of age. EBV positive patients, both in the elderly and young groups, showed significantly worse overall survival and progression-free survival than negative cases. Moreover, no significant differences of outcomes were identified between different age groups with EBV positive DLBCL. In conclusion, EBV positive DLBCL patients, regardless of age, shared similar poor prognostic features and showed worse outcome than negative cases. We suggest that the age criterion of EBV positive DLBCL of the elderly, and possibly the name itself, be modified in future.
Highlights
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the elderly is defined as patients older than 50 years alone
Most of studies showed the outcome of elderly patients with EBV positive Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with R-CHOP was worse than negative ones[4,5,12,13,14,15,16]
While few reports showed the impact of EBV positivity was overcome with R-CHOP especially patients received more than three cycles of therapies[7,11]
Summary
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the elderly is defined as patients older than 50 years alone. We investigated the clinical features and outcomes of patients with EBV positive DLBCL in the different age groups using different EBER cutoff values. EBV positive patients, both in the elderly and young groups, showed significantly worse overall survival and progression-free survival than negative cases. EBV positive DLBCL patients, regardless of age, shared similar poor prognostic features and showed worse outcome than negative cases. Most of studies showed the outcome of elderly patients with EBV positive DLBCL treated with R-CHOP was worse than negative ones[4,5,12,13,14,15,16]. The poor prognostic impact of EBV positivity on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) was not observed in the young group, but in the elderly group alone[14]. None of them compared the clinical characteristics and prognosis www.nature.com/scientificreports/
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
