Notch 1 and NF-κB Expression and Clinical Correlation in Chinese Patients with Lymphoblastic Lymphoma
446
analyzed the relationship between expression of NF-κB
and Notch 1 in LBL and found there was a significant
positive correlation between the expression of Notch 1
and NF-κB in T-LBL (p = 0.014). Our results showed
that high expression Notch 1 was accompanied by high
expression of NF-κB in T-LBL, and both have well cor-
relation. This supports the hypothesis that the Notch 1
signaling pathway is associated with constitutive activa-
tion of NF-κB and demonstrates that NF-κB may be a
signal transduction factor downstream of the Notch 1
pathway active in the germination of T-LBL. In contrast,
we found low expression of Notch1 and high expression
of NF-κB in B-LBL, and no correlation between the ex-
pression of Notch 1 and NF-κB in B-LBL, It suggesting
that NF-κB might be activated via other pathways in B-
LBL to result in tumor proliferation.
When analyzing the relationship between NF-κB ex-
pression and clinical characteristics of T-LBL, we found
NF-κB expression to be higher in T-LBL patients with
bulky disease and B symptoms. On the other hand, no
correlation was found between NF-κB expression and
sex, age, or extranodal disease. Bavi detected expression
of NF-κB in 203 cases of diffuse large B cell lymphoma
(DLBCL) using immunohistochemistry and reported that
NF-κB expression occurred in 25.6% (52/203) of DL-
BCL tumors, was associated with activated B cell (ABC)
phenotype, and showed a significantly poorer overall
survival as compared to those without NF-κB expression
[27]. A study in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma also
showed that overexpression of NF-κB was associated
with worse overall survival and was an independent prog-
nostic factor [28]. In our study we found that NF-κB ex-
pression did not correlate with 5-year event free survival
in T-LBL. However, our sample size was small and fur-
ther investigation is warranted.
This study showed that Notch 1 is highly expressed in
T-LBL and weakly expression in B-LBL. NF-κB was
highly expressed in LBL with no difference between T-
LBL and B-LBL. Notch 1 expression was significantly
associated with NF-κB expression in T-LBL. Notch l and
NF-κB may play important roles in the germination and
development of T-LBL and are potential therapeutic tar-
gets worthy of additional investigation.
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