Soluble Interleukin-2 Receptor Level at Diagnosis Predicts Prognosis of Patients With Follicular Lymphoma Irrespective of Initial Management Strategy.

Abstract

Although various prognostic indices for follicular lymphoma (FL) have been proposed, they are designed specifically for patients requiring immediate therapy. We aimed to develop a new simple prognostic tool applicable for all patients with FL at diagnosis. We retrospectively analyzed various clinical, pathological, and laboratory data, including soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL2R), from 140 patients with FL from two centers for their impact on prognosis. This study analyzed the impact of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL2R) in order to develop a new simple prognostic tool applicable for all patients with FL at diagnosis. The initial management of these patients was watchful waiting (n=48) or immediate treatment (n=92). Event-free survival at 24 months predicted overall survival. When categorized into three groups according to the sIL2R levels at diagnosis, a very high sIL2R level identified about 20% of patients with a distinctively worse survival compared to the others. sIL2R is a very effective biomarker that can be easily applied in routine practice to predict survival for all patients with FL at diagnosis irrespective of initial management approach.