[Expression and clinical significance of nm23-H1 and MUC-1 in peripheral T-cell lymphoma]

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) is a group of heterogeneous malignancy with poor prognosis. The role of international prognostic index (IPI) in PTCL remains to be determined. It is necessary to find new molecular markers for PTCL. This study was to evaluate the clinical significance of nm23-H1 and MUC-1 in predicting the prognosis of PTCL.

The expression of nm23-H1 and MUC-1 proteins in 96 specimens of PTCL was detected by SP immunohistochemistry. The correlations of nm23-H1 and MUC-1 expression to clinical features, objective response, and overall survival of PTCL patients were analyzed.

Of the 96 patients, 78 (81.2%) were nm23-H1-positive, 56 (58.3%) were MUC-1-positive. Neither of the expression of nm23-H1 and MUC-1 was correlated to the pathologic subtype of PTCL (P>0.05). The high expression of nm23-H1 was associated with some poor prognostic factors such as stage III-IV, performance status (PS)> or =2, extranodal involvement, and more than one site of extranodal involvement (P<0.05). The high expression of MUC-1 was only associated with stage III-IV and more than one site of extranodal involvement (P<0.05). Of the 89 patients with evaluable disease, the overall response rate was 87.8% with a complete remission (CR) rate of 56.7%. The CR rate was significantly higher in nm23-H1-negative patients than in nm23-H1-positive patients (66.7% vs. 55.4%, P<0.05), and significantly higher in the patients with low nm23-H1 expression than in those with high nm23-H1 expression (79.9% vs. 44.0%, P<0.05); the CR rate was higher in MUC-1-negative patients than in MUC-1-positive patients, and higher in the patients with low MUC-1 expression than in those with high MUC-1 expression, but the differences were not significant. The median follow-up of the whole group was 30 months (range, 2-98 months), and the median survival time was 32 months [95% confidence interval (CI)= 26-34 months]. The overall 5-year survival rate of the whole group was 35.1%. The overall 5-year survival rate was significantly higher in nm23-H1-negative patients than in nm23-H1-positive patients (86.7% vs. 24.9%, P=0.001), and significantly higher in the patients with low nm23-H1 expression than in those with high nm23-H1 expression (52.3% vs. 21.7%, P<0.001). The overall 5-year survival rate was slightly higher in MUC-1-negative patients than in MUC-1-positive patients (47.9% vs. 28.5%, P>0.05), and slightly higher in the patients with low MUC-1 expression than in those with high MUC-1 expression (46.2% vs. 22.2%, P>0.05). Multivariant analysis showed that IPI score and nm23-H1 expression were independent prognostic factors of PTCL.

Overexpression of nm23-H1 is related to poor prognosis of PTCL; it may be a potential prognostic index of PTCL. Overexpression of MUC-1 is not related to.