Clinicopathologic Characteristics of HIV-Associated Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma.

The incidence of lymphomas is increased in HIV-infected individuals. Most of the cases are B-cell subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Although the incidence of mature or peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) seems to be increased in HIV-positive cases, clinicopathological data is lacking. The objective of this study is to describe the characteristics of non-cutaneous PTCL in HIV-infected individuals and identify potential prognostic factors.

Institutions within and outside of the United States were invited to submit original data on cases of HIV-associated PTCL. Data on each case included country of origin, age, sex, ethnicity, CD4 count, use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), B symptoms, lymphoma subtype according to the WHO classification of lymphoid neoplasms, expression of ALK, EBV and Ki-67, T-cell gene rearrangement, number of extranodal sites, bone marrow involvement, clinical stage, performance status, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, frontline therapy, response, use of stem cell transplantation (HSCT), final outcome, survival in months and cause of death; these will be presented using descriptive statistics. Univariate analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier survival estimates compared using the log-rank test. Cox proportional-hazard regression test was used for the multivariate analysis. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered significant.

Thus far, data on 24 cases have been obtained from 7 institutions. From these cases, 13 (54%) are from South America, 5 (21%) from Europe, 3 (12.5%) from North America and 3 (12.5%) from Asia. Thirteen cases (54%) are Hispanic, 5 (21%) are Caucasian, 3 (12.5%) are Black and 3 (12.5%) are Asian. Median age is 39 years (range 26 to 58 years) and the male-to-female ratio is 7:1. Sixteen cases (70%) presented with B symptoms. Median CD4 count is 129 cells/mm3 (range 4 to 305 cells/mm3). Twelve cases (63%) reported use of HAART. Fourteen cases (58%) are PTCL, unspecified (PTCLU), 4 cases (17%) anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), 4 cases (17%) of NK/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL) and 2 cases (8%) angioimmunoblastic lymphoma (AITL). All ALCL cases were ALK-negative; EBV was expressed in 50% of NKTCL cases but in none of the AITL cases. Four of 15 cases (27%) had involvement of more than 2 extranodal sites, 3 of 11 cases (27%) had bone marrow involvement, 19 of 24 cases (79%) presented with advanced stage, 5 of 12 cases (42%) had an elevated LDH level and 8 of 24 cases (33%) had a performance status higher than 2. Thirteen of 24 cases (54%) were treated with chemotherapy alone from which 8 cases (62%) received CHOP therapy; six of 24 cases (25%) did not receive any therapy. Nine of 14 cases (65%) responded to therapy (29% CR and 36% PR); 35% of cases did not respond to therapy. Five cases of 14 (36%) underwent HSCT; 4 cases (29%) in the frontline and 1 case (7%) in the salvage setting. At the time of this report, 63% of cases have died; 53% due to infectious complications and 40% due to lymphoma progression. The median survival for the group was 10 months. The median survival for treated (n=19) and untreated cases (n=5) were 10.5 and 1 month, respectively (p=0.005).

HIV-associated PTCL tends to affect younger men with CD4 counts of less than 200 cells/mm3. PTCLU is the most common subtype reported in HIV-infected individuals. HIV-associated ALCL cases do not appear to express ALK. The survival of treated HIV-associated PTCL cases is short at 10.5 months despite a 65% initial response to therapy. Accumulation of data continues.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.