Expression of CD18 (integrin beta 2 chain) correlates with prognosis in malignant B cell lymphomas

Several studies have shown that cell cycle related parameters including DNA synthesis and activation antigen expression can predict patient survival in lymphoma patients. In this study of 69 malignant B cell lymphomas we have examined the cell surface expression of several cell interaction and activation molecules by flow cytometry. Expression of CD18 (integrin beta 2 chain) was found to correlate strongly with patient survival (median follow up 50 months) even when adjusting for other important prognostic factors (P = 0.0001). The percentage of cells positive for CDw75 proved important both as a single parameter and in the multivariate analysis. Histology, classified as low versus high grade malignancy, bulky versus not bulky disease and high versus low thymidine incorporation, was also found to correlate with prognosis in this study.