Abnormal expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 plays an essential role in tumor cell dissemination and disease progression. However, the significance of CXCR4 overexpression in de novo diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is unknown. In 743 patients with de novo diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who received standard Rituximab-CHOP immunochemotherapy, we assessed the expression of CXCR4 and dissected its prognostic significance in various DLBCL subsets. Our results showed that CXCR4+ patients was associated with male, bulky tumor, high Ki-67 index, activated B-cell-like (ABC) subtype, and Myc, Bcl-2 or p53 overexpression. Moreover, CXCR4+ was an independent factor predicting poorer progression-free survival in germinal-center B-cell-like (GCB)-DLBCL, but not in ABC-DLBCL; and in patients with an IPI of ≤2, but not in those with an IPI>2. The lack of prognostic significance of CXCR4 in ABC-DLBCL was likely due to the activation of p53 tumor suppressor attenuating CXCR4 signaling. Furthermore, concurrent CXCR4+ and BCL2 translocation showed dismal outcomes resembling but independent of MYC/BCL2 double-hit DLBCL. Gene expression profiling suggested that alterations in the tumor microenvironment and immune responses, increased tumor proliferation and survival, and the dissemination of CXCR4+ tumor cells to distant organs or tissues were underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for the CXCR4+ associated poor prognosis.
Keywords: BCL2; CXCR4; DLBCL; Myc; TP53 mutation.