MYC expression is associated with older age, common morphology, increased MYC copy number, and poorer prognosis in patients with ALK+ anaplastic large cell lymphoma

Kirill A. Lyapichev, Guilin Tang, Shaoying Li, M. James You, Tingsing J. Cheng, Roberto N. Miranda, Swaminathan Iyer, C. Cameron Yin, Sergej Konoplev, Carlos Bueso-Ramos, Francisco Vega, L. Jeffrey Medeiros, Jie Xu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The role of MYC dysregulation has been studied extensively in B-cell lymphomas, but little is known about its significance in T cell lymphomas. This study, for the first time in the literature, assessed the clinicopathologic and prognostic significance of MYC expression in ALK+ anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) cases. Using ≥50% as the cutoff value for positive MYC expression by immunohistochemistry, 17 of 46 (37%) cases were MYC+. Patients with MYC+ tumors were older (median age, 39 versus 29 years, p = 0.04) and more often showed a common morphologic pattern (100% versus 69%, p = 0.02), when compared with those with MYC-negative tumors. By fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis, 9 of 31 (29%) cases showed increased MYC copy number, and 1 of 31 (3%) case had an MYC rearrangement, and the remaining 21 (68%) cases showed no MYC aberrations. Among the cases with increased MYC copy number, 5 of 8 (62%) cases showed MYC copy gain and/or amplification and 3 of 8 (38%) had polysomy 8. MYC expression was associated with increased MYC copy number (p = 0.01). MYC expression, but not increased MYC copy number, correlated with shorter overall survival (OS) (p = 0.03). In conclusion, MYC expression identified a distinct group of ALK + ALCL patients with more aggressive behavior and shorter OS. Our data suggest that MYC expression is an adverse prognostic factor and may be useful in stratifying or predicting the prognosis of patients with ALK+ ALCL.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)22-31
Number of pages10
JournalHuman Pathology
Volume108
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • ALK+ anaplastic large cell lymphoma
  • MYC
  • Pathology
  • Prognosis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pathology and Forensic Medicine

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