The paper, entitled "Prediction of survival in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma based on the expression of six genes," presents an analysis of 36 genes that had been associated in other studies with survival in DLBCL and which were selected from among more than 10,000 candidate genes. This study is the first to identify a set of specific genes whose activity correlates with survival, and which were previously associated with this disease in multiple published studies employing a variety of molecular, biological, or technical methods.
Expression profiles for these 36 genes were measured in 66 independent DLBCL tumor samples using real-time PCR and the Applied Biosystems TaqMan Gene Expression Assays on an ABI PRISM 7900HT Sequence Detection System. Together, this system enables rapid, accurate, and cost-effective discovery and validation of gene expression patterns in complex diseases. The genes most predictive of overall survival in DLBCL were LMO2, BCL6, FN1, CCND2, SCYA3 and BCL2.
"These findings are interesting because they propose that molecular profiling may help refine prognoses in this difficult-to-treat blood cancer," said Ronald Levy, MD, Professor of Medicine and lead author, Stanford University Medical Center. "Currently, physicians rely on the International Prognostic Index (IPI) to evaluate patients with DLBCL. This predictive index is based on clinical factors including age, stage of the tumor, and the presence of disease that has spread outside the point of origin. While the IPI provides a standard way to evaluate cases of DLBCL, clinical outcome
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Porter Novelli
28-Apr-2004