Analysis of clinical characteristics and prognostic factors for angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma.

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) is a distinct peripheral T-cell lymphoma entity exhibiting peculiar clinical features and poor prognosis. Its clinical characteristics and prognostic factors are not well established. To clarify the clinical characteristics and prognostic features of AITL, we conducted a multicenter, retrospective study. Fifty-six patients were enrolled. The median patient age was 68 years. Immunohistochemical examinations of tumor cells showed positivity for CD10 and T-cell markers, and chromosomal examination detected several types of abnormalities. More than 80 % of patients show advanced disease at diagnosis and poor prognostic scores. A high proportion of patients showed accompanying B symptoms, splenomegaly, and hepatomegaly at diagnosis. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 48 % and progression-free survival was 25 %. Univariate analysis revealed higher age, fever, poor performance status, anemia, and low albumin level to be poor prognostic factors for OS. In addition to these factors, both IPI and PIT were also predictive of OS. Multivariate analysis indicated only a low level of serum albumin to be a significant prognostic factor for OS. Serum albumin may be one of the important prognostic factors for AITL. Further investigation is needed to confirm these results.