Among PTCL-NOS, a heterogeneous group of lymphoma-comprising cases likely to derive from Th follicular (T(FH)) cells similarly to AITL, TET2 mutations were more frequent when PTCL-NOS expressed T(FH) markers and/or had features reminiscent of AITL (58% vs 24%, P = .01).
First-line CHOP and CHOP-like regimens were used in 74% of patients, providing 4-year overall survival (OS) outcomes of 34% (95% confidence interval [CI], 14%-83%) in patients without transplant consolidation (82% in ALCL, 37% in PTCL-NOS, and 0% in AITL).
Gene expression profiling (GEP) defined molecular signatures for AITL and delineated biological and prognostic subgroups within PTCL-NOS (PTCL-GATA3 and PTCL-TBX21).
In total, 97 patients with AITL (n=37), PTCL-NOS (n=40), ALK-negative ALCL (n=11), or ALK-positive ALCL (n=9) were treated with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone).
Our findings demonstrate that B-cell clonality is a common finding in AILT and PTCL-NOS, and its presence should not negate the diagnosis established by morphologic, immunophenotypic, and clinical findings.
Recently, a novel recurring somatic mutation in RHOA, encoding p.Gly17Val, was discovered in nearly 70% of AITLs and in a smaller proportion of peripheral T-cell lymphomas, not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS).
The miRNA profile of PTCLs/NOS then was compared with that of 10 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphomas (AITLs), 6 anaplastic large-cell lymphomas (ALCLs)/ALK+ and 6 ALCLs/ALK-.
The recent identification of follicular helper T (T(FH)) cell as the cell of origin of this neoplasm represents a major step in our understanding of the pathobiological characteristics of the disease and should, in the future, clarify the diagnostic criteria for AITL and help to delineate its spectrum, especially from PTCL, not otherwise specified (PTCL, NOS).
These analyses identified highly recurrent epigenetic factor mutations in TET2, DNMT3A and IDH2 as well as a new highly prevalent RHOA mutation encoding a p.Gly17Val alteration present in 22 of 35 (67%) angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma (AITL) samples and in 8 of 44 (18%) PTCL, not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS) samples.