CD163 Expression Was Associated with Angiogenesis and Shortened Survival in Patients with Uniformly Treated Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma

BackgroundRecent studies have reported the prognostic value of tissue-associated magrophages (TAMs) in classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). In addition, TAMs are implicated in the tumor angiogenesis. In this study, we examined the prognostic relevance of TAMs in relation to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and angiogenesis in uniformly treated cases of cHL.MethodsDiagnostic tissue from 116 patients with ABVD-treated cHL was evaluated retrospectively by immunohistochemical analysis for CD68, CD163 and VEGF expression and for CD31 expression as a measure of microvessel density (MVD).ResultsHigh CD163 expression (≥35% of cellularity) correlated with VEGF expression (Pearson’s Chi-square test, P = 0.008) and MVD (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.310, PP = 0.005) and overall survival (OS, PP = 0.043) and OS (P = 0.008). Patients with high MVD had a lower OS than those with low MVD, but the difference was not significant (P = 0.071, respectively). While high expression of CD68 was also associated with inferior EFS (P = 0.007), it showed no correlation with VEGF or MVD.ConclusionsOur data confirms that CD163 expression provides independent prognostic information in cHL. The correlation of CD163 with VEGF expression and MVD suggests the role of CD163-positive cells in tumor angiogenesis of cHL.背景 近期研究表明，组织相关巨噬细胞（tissue-associated macrophages, TAMs）在经典霍奇金淋巴瘤（classical Hodgkin lymphoma, cHL）中具有预后价值。此外，组织相关巨噬细胞还与肿瘤血管生成密切相关。本研究旨在探讨在接受统一方案治疗的经典霍奇金淋巴瘤患者中，组织相关巨噬细胞的预后意义与血管内皮生长因子（vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF）表达及血管生成的关联。 方法 本研究回顾性分析了116例接受ABVD方案治疗的经典霍奇金淋巴瘤患者的诊断组织样本，通过免疫组化检测CD68、CD163及VEGF的表达情况，并以CD31表达作为微血管密度（microvessel density, MVD）的检测指标。 结果 CD163高表达（细胞占比≥35%）与VEGF表达（Pearson卡方检验，P=0.008）、微血管密度（Spearman相关系数为0.310，P=0.005）以及总生存期（overall survival, OS，P=0.043与P=0.008）均存在相关性。微血管密度高的患者总生存期低于微血管密度低的患者，但该差异无统计学意义（P=0.071）。尽管CD68高表达也与较差的无事件生存期（event-free survival, EFS，P=0.007）相关，但该指标与VEGF表达或微血管密度无相关性。 结论 本研究数据证实，CD163表达可作为经典霍奇金淋巴瘤的独立预后指标。CD163与VEGF表达及微血管密度的相关性提示，CD163阳性细胞在经典霍奇金淋巴瘤的肿瘤血管生成过程中发挥一定作用。