The role of AHI1 and CDKN1C in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma progression.

Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is the most common lymphoma of the skin. Recent reports suggest that AHI1 is overexpressed in a subset of CTCL-derived cell lines, where it downregulates the expression of CDKN1C tumor suppressor gene. In the current work, we test the expression of these genes in 60 patients with Mycosis Fungoides and Sezary Syndrome by RT-PCR and correlate our findings with 6 years of clinical follow-up. These findings reveal that AHI1 and CDKN1C exhibit opposite expression patterns, where AHI1 is expressed in poor and intermediate prognosis patients, while CDKN1C is expressed in favourable prognosis patients. Kaplan-Meier analysis documents that downregulation of CDKN1C is associated with poor disease outcome in patients with CTCL, while upregulation of AHI1 shows a weak association with aggressive disease course.