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The significance of granzyme B expression in patients with angiocentric lymphoma of the head and neck
Author(s) -
Kim Gwi Eon,
Yang WooIck,
Lee Sangwook,
Kim Yong Bae,
Suh Chang Ok,
Yoon JooHeon,
Oh Young Taik,
Chung Hyun Cheol,
Kim Byung Soo
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(20010615)91:12<2343::aid-cncr1267>3.0.co;2-3
Subject(s) - granzyme b , granzyme , medicine , lymphoma , immunohistochemistry , cytotoxic t cell , pathology , immunology , cd8 , biology , perforin , immune system , biochemistry , in vitro
BACKGROUND The objectives of this study were to establish a correlation between granzyme B expression and the clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with angiocentric lymphomas of the head and neck and to determine whether the expression of granzyme B had any influence on the treatment outcomes of such patients. METHODS Fifty‐seven patients with angiocentric lymphoma of the head and neck who were treated between 1987 and 1996 were divided into two groups according to whether their tumors were immunoreactive for granzyme B: the granzyme B negative group ( n = 22 patients) and the granzyme B positive group ( n = 35 patients). The clinicopathologic features, immunohistochemical findings, patterns of disease failure, and survival data for the granzyme B positive group were compared with those for the granzyme B negative group. RESULTS Greater than 60% of patients with angiocentric lymphoma of the head and neck were shown to have granzyme B positive tumors. All tumors that expressed granzyme B also consistently coexpressed CD56, indicating that they probably are the neoplastic equivalent of either natural killer (NK) cells or activated cytotoxic T cells. Although there were no significant differences in histopathologic features or expression of CD45RO and polyclonal CD3‐ϵ between the groups, the Epstein–Barr virus genomes were detected more frequently in the granzyme B positive group compared with the granzyme B negative group. Despite a similar rate of complete remission after initial treatment, the locoregional recurrence rate of patients in the granzyme B positive group was much higher compared with patients in the granzyme B negative group. In addition, compared with patients in the granzyme B negative group, patients in the granzyme B positive group also had an increased risk of systemic disease recurrence and a decreased overall survival rate. CONCLUSIONS The data indicate that the cytotoxic granule‐associated protein, granzyme B, may be used as an additional marker for identifying NK/T‐cell lymphoma and as a prognostic indicator for risk assessment in patients with angiocentric lymphoma of the head and neck. Cancer 2001;91:2343–52. © 2001 American Cancer Society.