Molecular markers (PECAM-1, ICAM-3, HLA-DR) determine prognosis in primary non-Hodgkin's gastric lymphoma patients.

aimTo investigate the prognostic significance of PECAM-1, ICAM-3 and HLA-DR antigens in patients with primary non-Hodgkin's gastric lymphoma.

methodsWe immunohistochemically studied PECAM-1, ICAM-3 and HLA-DR antigen expression in 36 B-cell MALT-type primary gastric lymphoma patients. Ten non-malignant and ten healthy gastric tissue specimens were used as controls. Clinicopathological and survival data were correlated with the staining results.

resultsHLA-DR antigen expression was detected in 33 gastric lymphoma patients (91.7%) and 6 non-malignant patients (54.5%). PECAM-1 stained tumor cells of 10 patients (27.8%), endothelial cells of 9 patients (25%) and inflammatory infiltrate of 4 patients (40%) with benign gastric disease. ICAM-3 expression was observed on the tumor cells of 17 patients (47.2%), while 5 non-malignant patients (50%) were stained positive as well. None of the healthy controls was stained for any of the genes studied. In the multivariate analysis, HLA-DR antigen and PECAM-1 were proved to be statistically significant independent prognostic factors associated with a favourable and an unfavourable prognosis respectively (P=0.009 and P=0.003). In the univariate analysis, PECAM-1(+)/ICAM-3(-) and HLA-DR(-)/ICAM-3(-) patients exhibited a significantly decreased overall survival compared to those with the exactly opposite gene expression patterns (P=0.0041 and P=0.0091, respectively). Those patients who were HLA-DR(+)/ICAM-3(+)/PECAM-1(-) (n=8) had a significantly higher survival rate compared to the rest of the group (n=24) (P=0.0289).

conclusionPECAM-1, ICAM-3 and HLA-DR are representative markers of tumor expansion potential and host immune surveillance respectively. Their combined use may help us to identify high-risk patients who could benefit from more aggressive therapeutic protocols.