Impact of cluster of differentiation 20 expression and rituximab therapy in classical Hodgkin lymphoma: Real world experience

Khadega A Abuelgasim; Raed Al Shammari; Saeed Alshieban; Bader Alahmari; Mohsen Alzahrani; Ayman Alhejazi; Ahmed Alaskar; Moussab Damlaj

doi:10.1016/j.lrr.2021.100240

Impact of cluster of differentiation 20 expression and rituximab therapy in classical Hodgkin lymphoma: Real world experience

Leuk Res Rep. 2021 Apr 8:15:100240. doi: 10.1016/j.lrr.2021.100240. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Khadega A Abuelgasim^{1

2

3}, Raed Al Shammari⁴, Saeed Alshieban^{1

3

5}, Bader Alahmari^{1

2

3}, Mohsen Alzahrani^{1

2

3}, Ayman Alhejazi^{1

2

3}, Ahmed Alaskar^{1

2

3}, Moussab Damlaj^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² Oncology Department, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh 11426, Saudi Arabia.
³ King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Internal Medicine Department, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Pathology Department, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The prognostic impact of CD20 expression and rituximab therapy in classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is unclear. Among 310 patients, CD20 was expressed in 66 (22%) cases. The 3-year PFS was 75.1% for CD20⁺and 70% for CD20^- (p = 0.36). The 3-year PFS was 84.7% for the rituximab group and 67.8% for the no rituximab group (p = 0.23). Only constitutional symptoms and positive interim PET/CT were significantly associated with worse outcome, HR 3.2 (1.14-9.01; p = 0.028) and 4.3 (2.27-8.1; p < 0.0001), respectively. Neither CD20 expression nor rituximab use significantly impacted outcome.

Keywords: Classical Hodgkin lymphoma; Cluster of differentiation 20; Interim positron tomography; Rituximab.