Evaluation of BCL6 and MUM1 Expression in Patients with Diffuse Large B cell Lymphoma and their Correlations with Staging and Prognosis in Iran

Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma(NHL), accounting for approximately 25% of NHL cases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associationbetween the BCL6 and MUM1 gene expression and patient prognosis and stage. Materials and
Methods: Afterethical approval, in a cross-sectional study, tissue samples of 80 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma wereanalyzed for BCL6 and MUM1 gene expression. Immunohistochemical staining was performed with division intocategories of 0-5%, 5-25%, 26-50%, 51-75% and more than 75%. Other clinical and histological information suchas lymph node involvement, T-stage, B symptoms and patient outcome were also recorded. Data were analyzedwith SPSS version 16 and a P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: The patient mean agewas 46.9±10.5 years (47.6±10.7 and 46.1±9.6 for males and females, respectively). A significant association wasseen between lymphoma stage and BCL6 (p=0.045) but not MUM1 expression (p=0.09). However, the latterwas associated with mortality (p=0.006) as was also the BCL6 level (p=0.006).
Conclusions: : Overexpression ofMUM1 and BCL6 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.