Clinicopathological Features of Nodular Sclerosis-Type Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma In the Elderly: Multicenter Study of Hodgkin Lymphoma In Japan

Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL), which is characterized by the presence of Hodgkin and Reed Sternberg (H-RS) cells in a background of non-neoplastic inflammatory cells, is divided into four histological subgroups, nodular sclerosis (NSCHL), mixed cellularity (MCCHL), lymphocyte-rich, and lymphocyte depletion. While NSCHL in young adults is characterized by a mediastinal mass and good prognosis, the clinicopathological characteristics of NSCHL in the elderly (NSCHL-e) remain uncertain.

Enrolled patients were diagnosed with CHL between 1986 and 2006 as part of the Hodgkin Lymphoma's Multicenter Study Group. To better characterize NSCHL-e, we compared the clinicopathological profiles of 84 NSCHL-e patients aged 50 or over with 237 NSCHL-y patients aged 49 or younger and 302 with MCCHL.

The total of 743 CHL patients consisted of 496 men and 247 women with a median age of 48 years (range, 15– 89 years). The pathological diagnoses were NSCHL in 324 patients (43%) and MCCHL in 303 (41%). NSCHL patients showed a bimodal age distribution, with an initial peak in their 20s and a second small peak in their 60s. We categorized the former as NSCHL-y (49 or younger) and the latter as NSCHL-e (50 and over). NSCHL-e patients were characterized by male predominance and a more advanced clinical stage (53%) than NSCHL-y. Immunophenotypically, H-RS cells had the prototypic immunophenotype of CD15+ CD30+ and Pax5+. NSCHL-e cases showed a significantly higher rate of CD20 (24%) than NSCHL-y (8%, P = 0.001). Furthermore, H-RS cells in 29 of 75 (39%) patients with NSCHL-e were positive for EBV RNA transcripts by in situ hybridization, whereas only 7% of NSCHL-y cases were EBER-positive (P < 0.0001) (Table). Regarding NSCHL-e and MCCHL, no significant difference between these patients was seen in clinical characteristics. Immunophenotypically, NSCHL-e patients showed significantly higher rates for CD3 and TIA-1, while MCCHL patients showed higher EBV positivity (75%). Fifty-five of 63 patients received systemic multi-agent chemotherapy as first-line treatment, consisting of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbacin (ABVD) in 38 patients; CHOP in 8; C-MOPP in 8; and BEACOPP in 1. Overall, 51 patients responded to first-line treatment, 39 with complete response and 12 with partial response. Disease-specific survival of NSCHL-e was poorer than that of NSCHL-y (P < 0.001) but similar to that of MCCHL (P = 0.43) (Figure).

NSCHL-e is characterized by an unfavorable prognosis and different clinicopathological features to NSCHL-y, which is considered as typical NSCHL. A number of cases of NSCHL-e might have been associated with MCCHL, with most being EBV-positive. These results suggest the limitations of current histological subgroupings for CHL.

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Matsushita:Pfizer CO.: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Baxter Co.: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding.