Tumor-Associated Cytotoxic Lymphocytes and Macrophages as Predictive Factors in Follicular Lymphoma

摘要

To evaluate the prognostic significance of tumor-associated cytotoxic lymphocytes and macro- phages, an immunohistochemical study of lymph node biopsies obtained from patients with follicular lym- phoma (FL) was carried out. The immunohistochemical survey was performed using anti-granzyme B and anti-CD68 antibodies before the patients received the anti-FL treatment. It was shown that the number of cytotoxic lymphocytes (cytotoxic T lymphocytes and NK cells) in patients with good outcome (group 1, n = 31) was significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) than in patients with poor outcome (group 2, n = 28). The number of CD68-positive macrophages in tumors with nodular-diffuse type of growth in group 2 was significantly higher (p ≤ 0.01) than in group 1. An increased number of cytotoxic lymphocytes may point to the activation of adap- tive immunity that favors the good outcome of the disease. In contrast, an increased number of macrophages was associated with a poor outcome of FL. These data suggest that the parameters of cellular microenviron- ment can be used as prognostic criteria of the FL outcome. Further investigations are needed for the elucida- tion of the role of the cellular microenvironment in the FL development.