Affiliations: [a] Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China | [b] Department of Medical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding authors: Zhen-Bo Feng, Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China. Tel./Fax: +86 771 535 6534; Email: fengzhenbo_gxmu@163.com. Zhi-Gang Peng, Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China. Tel./Fax: + 86 771 535 3121; Email: pengzhigang@gxmu.edu.cn.
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work. Yong-Yao Gu and Bin Luo contributed equally to this work as co-first authors.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The expression of neuropilin-1 (NRP-1) in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphomas and its relationships with clinicopathological parameters was investigated. METHODS: The researchers compared 111 cases of patients with lymphoma to 20 cases of reactive lymphoid hyperplasia. In situ hybridization was applied to observe the expression of EBV-encoded RNA (EBER) in lymphomas, and immunohistochemistry was used to detect the NRP-1 expression in lymphoma tissues and lymph node tissues with reactive hyperplasia. RESULTS: In these 111 cases, the EBER of 62 cases (55.9%) appeared positive. NRP-1 was relatively highly expressed in lymphomas (P= 0.019). Further, NRP-1 showed higher expression in lymphomas with positive EBER than in negative ones. A comprehensive analysis revealed that NRP-1 was differently expressed in NK/T-cell lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (P= 0.027). Moreover, highly expressed NRP-1 was found to be a useful independent prognostic factor in assessing overall survival and progression-free survival rates in cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). CONCLUSIONS: NRP-1 exhibited higher expression in lymphomas, and it was positively expressed in EBV-positive lymphomas. Moreover, highly expressed NRP-1 can be used as an undesirable independent prognostic factor in NHL.
