AbstractBackgroundAn enhanced International Prognostic Index (NCCN-IPI) was built to better discriminate diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients in the rituximab era. However, there is an urgent need to identify novel valuable biomarkers in the context of targeted therapies, such as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy.MethodsGene expression data and clinical information were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. 73 immune-related hub genes in DLBCL patients with different IPI levels were identified by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), and 4 genes were selected to construct an IPI-based immune-related prognostic model (IPI-IPM). Afterward, the genetic, somatic mutational and molecular profiles of IPI-IPM subgroups were analyzed, as well as the potential clinical response of ICB in different IPI-IPM subgroups.ResultsThe IPI-IPM was constructed base on the expression of LCN2, CD5L, NLRP11 and SERPINB2, where high-risk patients had shorter overall survival (OS) than low-risk patients, consistent with the results in the GEO cohorts. The comprehensive results showed that a high IPI-IPM risk score was correlated with immune-related signaling pathways, high KMT2D and CD79B mutation rates, high infiltration of CD8+ T cells and macrophages (M1, M2), as well as up-regulation of inhibitory immune checkpoints including PD-L1, LAG3 and BTLA, indicating more potential response to ICB therapy.ConclusionThe IPI-IPM has independent prognostic significance for DLBCL patients, which provides an immunological perspective to elucidate the mechanisms on tumor progression and drug resistance, also sheds a light on developing immunotherapy for DLBCL.
RITUXIMAB DOES NOT ADVERSELY AFFECT THE STEM CELL MOBILIZATION AND ENGRAFTMENT AFTER HIGH-DOSE THERAPY AND AUTOLOGOUS TRANSPLANTATION IN PATIENTS WITH DIFFUSE LARGE B-CELL LYMPHOMA IN FIRST COMPLETE OR PARTIAL REMISSION