Clinical significance of 8q24/c-MYC translocation in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has heterogeneous clinical, histological, and molecular features. We evaluated the clinical characteristics and prognoses of patients with DLBCL carrying 8q24 translocations. A total of 1864 consecutive patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were treated in the Adult Lymphoma Treatment Study Group from 1998 to 2005. Of the 252 patients with DLBCL with abnormal karyotypes, 28 patients with DLBCL with the 8q24 translocation were identified. There were 14 men and 14 women, with a median age of 61 years. The 8q24 translocation was observed significantly more frequently among patients with poor performance status, among patients with high lactate dehydrogenase level, and among patients with bone marrow involvement. The 5-year overall survival was 43.9% among the patients with 8q24 translocation, and 67% among the patients with other chromosomal abnormalities. The 8q24 translocation group showed significantly poorer prognosis than the group with other translocations. In addition, patients with t(14;18) and 8q24 translocation showed significantly poorer prognosis than those with 8q24 translocation alone. It will be necessary to study whether more aggressive chemotherapy or rituximab combination chemotherapy is effective in 8q24 translocation cases.