OBJECTIVETo study the expression of CD40 in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and its relationship with various clinical parameters, pathologic findings and prognostic data.

METHODSThe clinical information of 87 patients with DLBCL diagnosed in Jilin Province Cancer Hospital during the period from January, 2008 to october, 2012 was retrospectively reviewed. Immunohistochemical study using SP technique for CD40 was carried out. The correlation between clinicopathologic findings, CD40 expression and survival data was analyzed using statistical software.

RESULTSCases of CD40-positive DLBCL were characterized by lower age group, early clinical stage, less extranodal involvement, lower IPI index and lower ECOG score. However, there was no significant correlation between gender of patients and site of involvement (P = 0.141 and 0.729). The overall survival of patients with CD40-positive DLBCL was significantly higher than that in patients with CD40-negative DLBCL. One-way analysis of variance showed that the prognosis of DLBCL was closely associated with CD40 expression, age of patients, ECOG score, IPI index, extranodal involvement and LDH level (P < 0.05, respectively). Stratified analysis showed that CD40-positive DLBCL carried a better prognosis, irrespective of other immunophenotyping results. COX model multivariate analysis showed that the expression of CD40 closely correlated with other immunophenotyping results, ECOG score, clinical staging, treatment regimen and prognosis (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe expression of CD40 is a favorable prognostic indicator in patients with DLCBL.