Prognostic Value of PRAME Activity in Tumor Cells of Follicular Lymphoma

Aim. To set survival parameters for follicular lymphoma (FL) patients with different PRAME expression levels in tumor cells. Materials & Methods. The study was conducted on samples of lymph nodes, blood, and bone marrow of 34 patients with newly diagnosed FL. PRAME expression levels were measured in tumor cells (centrocytes and centroblasts) by quantitative real-time PCR. The impact of different PRAME expression levels on survival parameters was studied with median follow-up of 29 months. Clinical and laboratory characteristics used for FLIPI-1 and FLIPI-2 calculations in different patient groups were compared. Results. A high (> 5 % against ABL control gene) PRAME expression level correlates with higher Ki-67 activity (p = 0.043) and larger tumor mass (p = 0.04). Survival parameters were worse with high PRAME expression level in FL cells. Combination of both high FLIPI-1/FLIPI-2 risk and high PRAME expression level determines extremely unfavorable prognosis and may result in death. Conclusion. In FL patients high PRAME expression level in tumor cells has negative prognostic value, but only in the presence of parameters determining high FLIPI-1 and FLIPI-2 risk. Juxtaposition of PRAME expression level and FLIPI-1/ FLIPI-2 values enables most reliable prediction of early mortality in FL patients.