Prognostic Factors of Hepatosplenic T-cell Lymphoma: Clinicopathologic Study of 28 Cases

Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTCL) is a rare type of lymphoma. Patients have a poor prognosis, and there is no standard of care. We evaluated 28 HSTCL patients to determine factors that may be associated with outcome. There were 19 men and 9 women with a median age of 32.5 years. Most patients had massive splenomegaly, and bone marrow showed sinusoidal involvement by lymphoma. The HSTCL cells expressed γδ T-cell receptor (TCR) in 20 (74%), αβ TCR in 5 (19%), and neither in 2 (7%) patients (1 case not assessed). Conventional cytogenetics and/or fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis in 24 patients at diagnosis showed isochromosome 7q (i7q) in 10 (42%) and trisomy 8 in 8 (33%) patients. Median overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were each 28.3 months. Serum bilirubin level ≥1.5 mg/dL, αβ TCR expression, and trisomy 8 each correlated significantly with shorter OS and EFS. Patients with HSTCL received a variety of chemotherapy regimens with no regimen better than any other. However, patients who underwent stem cell transplant showed longer survival (OS: hazard ratio 0.3, P=0.09; EFS: hazard ratio 0.2, P=0.034). In conclusion, although HSTCL patients have a poor prognosis overall, the data presented support the novel suggestions that HSTCL patients can be stratified into 2 prognostic groups, with an elevated serum bilirubin level, αβ TCR expression, and trisomy 8 identifying a poorer prognostic group. In addition, the outcomes of this patient cohort suggest that stem cell transplantation has value for the treatment of patients with HSTCL.