Constitutive activity of nuclear
transcription factor kappaB (
NF-kappaB) is observed in many pathological types of
lymphoma that are associated with a poor
clinical course. This suggests that
NF-kappaB and pathways involving
NF-kappaB are possible targets for successfully treating
lymphoma. We examined 28 lymph nodes from 28 patients in whom
follicular lymphoma was diagnosed from 1996 to 2006 at our institution, which were
formalin-fixed and
paraffin-embedded. The specimens were stained with an antibody that could recognize activated
NF-kappaB and p65 to determine whether they were positive or negative for
NF-kappaB activation. The clinical courses of the 28 patients were then correlated with the results of the
NF-kappaB staining. The 10 men and 18 women had a mean age of 57.3 years (range, 25-87 years). By
follicular lymphoma grade, 10 patients had grade 1, 16 had grade 2, and 2 had grade 3a. Ten patients died due to
lymphoma.
NF-kappaB was positive in 6 of the 28 cases. Analysis of the positive and negative staining groups while taking into account the
clinical course, sex, age, grade of
follicular lymphoma, prognostic index, CD10, CD23, Bcl-2, karyotype t(14;18), and survival showed that no significant differences. Six of the 28 lymph nodes (21.4%) exhibited consistent
NF-kappaB activity. Three of the eleven cases that transformed to aggressive
lymphoma were positive for activated
NF-kappaB. Further research to clarify the significance of constitutive
NF-kappaB activity in
follicular lymphoma is therefore warranted.