Oncogene associated cDNA microarray analysis shows PRAME gene expression is a marker for response to anthracycline containing chemotherapy in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

CHOP (cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, and prednisolone) therapy achieves a response in more than 60% patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs). However, DLBCL shows a heterogeneous response to chemotherapy, and some patients are refractory to CHOP therapy. This difference in response to therapy is most likely due to differences in biological characteristics. We used cDNA microarray analysis to identify genes differentially expressed in anthracycline containing chemotherapy-resistant DLBCLs (7 patients) compared with anthracycline containing chemotherapy-sensitive DLBCLs (6 patients). Nine genes on the cDNA chip showed increased expression in anthracycline containing chemotherapy-resistant patients. We chose the preferentially expressed antigen of melanoma (PRAME) gene because it showed the highest expression in anthracycline containing chemotherapy-resistant DLBCLs on the cDNA chip, and it has been linked to prognosis of hematological malignancies. We also examined the relationship between PRAME gene expression and progression-free survival (PFS) in 45 patients with DLBCL. The progression-free survival of PRAME-positive patients (n=12) was significantly worse than that of PRAME-negative patients (n=33) (p=0.0373). Our results therefore indicate that PRAME expression in DLBCL correlates with response to anthracycline containing chemotherapy.