|
|||||
|
|
||||||
Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 23, No 10 (April 1), 2005: pp. 2233-2239 © 2005 American Society of Clinical Oncology. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2005.07.109 Primary CNS Lymphoma of T-Cell Origin: A Descriptive Analysis From the International Primary CNS Lymphoma Collaborative GroupFrom the Division of Medical Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver; Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Canada; Unite Cytokines et Cancers, Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Centre Leon Berard, Lyon, France; Neuro-Oncology Program, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Rochester, MN; Dr. Bernard Verbeeten Instituut, Tilburg, the Netherlands; Charite Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany; Department of Neurology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR; Department of Neurology and Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; Department of Radiochemotherapy and Pathology, San Raffaele H Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy; Department of Radiation Oncology, Newcastle Mater Hospital, Newcastle, Australia; and University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA Address reprint requests to Tamara N. Shenkier, MD, British Columbia Cancer Agency, 600 W 10th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4E6, Canada; e-mail: tshenkier{at}bccancer.bc.ca
PURPOSE: To describe the demographic and tumor related characteristics and outcomes for patients with primary T-cell CNS lymphoma (TPCNSL). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective series of patients with TPCNSL was compiled from twelve cancer centers in seven countries.
RESULTS: We identified 45 patients with a median age of 60 years (range, 3 to 84 years). Twenty (44%) had Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) of 0 or 1. Twenty-six (58%) had involvement of a cerebral hemisphere and sixteen (36%) had lesions of deeper sites in the brain. Serum lactate dehydrogenase was elevated in 7 (32%) of 22 patients, and CSF protein was elevated in 19 of 24 patients (79%) with available data. The median disease-specific survival (DSS) was 25 months (95% CI, 11 to 38 months). The 2- and 5-year DSS were 51% (95% CI, 35% to 66%) and 17% (95% CI, 6% to 34%), respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted for age ( CONCLUSION: This is the largest series ever assembled of TPCNSL. The presentation and outcome appear similar to that of B cell PCNSL. PS 0 or 1 and administration of MTX are associated with better survival.
Primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL) in immunocompetent individuals is an uncommon tumor that accounts for approximately 5% of all primary brain tumors and only 1% to 2% of non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) in general.1-3 Although the large majority of PCNSL are of B-cell origin, T-cell lesions are occasionally seen, and case reports have been described in the literature.4-7 In two previously reported large series of PCNSL from France and Japan, the proportion of patients with T-cell lymphoma was 3.6% and 8.5%, respectively.8,9 In the largest series of PCNSL cases diagnosed in Western countries, T-cell origin has been reported in 8 (2%) of 370 cases.10 To date, there has not been a report of a single large series exclusively describing features of patients with primary T-cell CNS lymphoma (TPCNSL). The International PCNSL Collaborative Group (IPCG) is a multidisciplinary group consisting of neurologists, neurosurgeons, radiation and medical oncologists, hematologists, and pathologists from North America, Europe, and Australia. The group was convened with the support of the International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group (IELSG) to address clinical and biologic research questions concerning PCNSL. It is also an ideal forum from which to assemble clinical data regarding rare presentations of this disease. Here, we report a retrospective analysis of 45 patients with TPCNSL diagnosed between 1983 and 2003, assembled from 12 institutions in seven countries.
Study Population A questionnaire requesting information about patient characteristics, diagnosis, pathology, stage, treatment, site and date of progression, second-line treatment, neurotoxicity, and survival of patients with TPCNSL was sent to participating centers affiliated with the IPCG. Twelve cancer centers with at least one case of TPCNSL each responded. The median number of cases reported per institution was 2.5 (range, 1 to 15 cases). Each center received local ethics committee approval for the release of anonymized data. The inclusion criteria were histologic or cytologic diagnosis of lymphoma; disease localized exclusively to the brain, meninges, eyes, or spinal cord; no obvious evidence of HIV-1 infection; T-cell phenotype by immunohistochemistry (CD3, CD4, or CD45RO positive); or T-cellreceptor molecular rearrangement. Retrieval of the original specimens for central pathology review was not feasible due to logistics and regulatory issues, as well as time elapsed from original diagnosis. A vigorous attempt was made to retrieve the original pathology reports. In 25 cases, the original pathology reports were available for central review, and the following information was abstracted: cytologic features, pattern of infiltration, immunophenotyping, and final diagnosis. The other 20 cases were retrieved from lymphoma databases at individual institutions.
Statistical Considerations
Identification of Cases A total of 45 cases were identified. All patients had disease confined to the brain (n = 42), spinal cord (n = 2), or meninges (n = 1) with no evidence of systemic lymphoma at presentation. Four cases described in previous reports of TPCNSL are included in this cohort.4-6 One patient had confirmed infection with human T-cell lymphocyte virus-1 (HTLV-1), but serologic testing was not done routinely in all cases.
Pathologic Features
Clinical Features The main clinical characteristics are listed in Table 1. To facilitate comparison, these characteristics are shown alongside those of the 378 PCNSL patients assembled by the IELSG and previously reported.10 That cohort had a median age of 61 years (range, 14 to 85 years). The median age of our 45 patients was 59.5 years (range, 3 to 84 years). Six patients (13%) were older than 70 years at diagnosis, and 21 (47%) of 41 patients had an ECOG PS of 2 or worse. Seven (32%) of 22 patients had an elevated LDH serum level, and 19 (79%) of 24 of patients had an elevated concentration of CSF protein. Involvement of deep brain structures (basal ganglia, corpus callosum, brainstem, and/or cerebellum) was seen in 16 patients (36%). Thirteen patients (29%) had multiple lesions at diagnosis.
Three patients were known to have had other malignancies before the diagnosis of TPCNSL. One had mycosis fungoides diagnosed 13 years before, and had been free of disease and off all medications for three years. One patient had had rectal carcinoma and colon carcinoma 42 years and 15 years before, respectively. One patient had a biopsy-proven meningioma diagnosed 3 months before developing TPCNSL. Four patients had unusual features of their initial diagnoses. One presented with a 1-year prodrome of progressive neurologic and systemic symptoms. He had multifocal frontal lobe lesions, but no evidence of systemic lymphoma on initial staging. His biopsy was compatible with peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Serology was positive for HTLV-1. Another patient presented with gait abnormalities and cranial neuropathies and was found to have leptomeningeal disease only. Diagnosis was made on cytologic examination of the CSF. Two patients presented with spinal cord lesions only.
Therapeutic Management Methotrexate (MTX) was the most commonly used drug (n = 29) either alone (n = 11) or in combination with other agents (n = 18).14-19 The intravenous (or intra-arterial) MTX dose ranged from 2 g/m2 to 8 g/m2 per month (median, 3.75 g/m2/mo). The number of courses ranged from one to 12 (median, 4.5 courses). Three patients had nonMTX-based regimens. In one patient, no additional information regarding the specific regimen was available. One patient had high-dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation following MTX and irradiation. Information regarding intrathecal (IT) chemotherapy was available in 42 cases (93%). Seventeen patients (40%) received IT MTX either alone (n = 8) or alternating with IT cytarabine (n = 9). Irradiation was administered to 35 patients (78%). This consisted of whole brain irradiation in 34 patients (76%), with a boost to the tumor bed in twelve patients (27%). In two of these 34 patients, the irradiation field also included portions of the spinal cord (one with cerebellar disease and another with a primary spinal cord lesion). One patient received irradiation to the spinal cord only. The dose ranged from 20 to 55 Gy (median, 35 Gy).
Outcome
Data on site of progression were available for 18 of the 24 patients who developed progressive disease. Eleven patients progressed in the brain alone; two in the spinal cord; two systemically; one in the brain and meninges; and one each in the meninges and eyes. Salvage treatment was systemic chemotherapy in six patients and localized irradiation in two others (one each to the spinal cord and eyes). Ten patients had no further treatment, and information regarding second-line therapy was unavailable in six others.
The data were analyzed according to several known prognostic factors for PCNSL.13,20 The results for age
One study suggested that the prognosis for patients with TPCNSL may be better when "low grade" histologic features are present.7 In our series, 25 cases included descriptive information available regarding cytologic features. When the DSS was analyzed comparing patients whose biopsies contained predominantly small, bland-looking malignant T cells (n = 12) with those with medium to large (and/or anaplastic) features (n = 13), there was no significant difference in outcome.
We conducted a multivariate analysis using four variables: age (
TPCNSL is a rare disease with an unknown precise incidence. In Western countries, it has been reported to constitute less than 4% of all PCNSL, but in a nationwide survey of PCNSL in Japan, 8% of all cases were of T-cell origin.8,9 Our data set did not contain information on race or ethnicity. In this collaborative effort of the IPCG, participating centers searched for cases of TPCNSL in their databases and registries from 1983 to the present and submitted available information. Although such a data set is by no means comprehensive and cannot determine the exact incidence of this disease, this collaboration allowed us to assemble the largest case series of TPCNSL in the literature to date. The clinical characteristics of this cohort were comparable to those of PCNSL in general.10,13,20 The median age and ECOG PS were similar to those previously reported. Like patients with B-cell PCNSL, the majority of patients in this series presented with supratentorial lesions. There was a greater male preponderance and higher proportion of patients presenting with "B" symptoms in our series compared to the IELSG data. We also had a lower incidence of ocular involvement than that seen in larger studies of PCNSL. Although our series is large, our methodology cannot guarantee that it is necessarily comprehensive, and any definitive conclusions about how the demographics and clinical characteristics of TPCNSL resemble or differ from those of B-cell PCNSL need to be interpreted in that light. For this reason, a formal statistical comparison was not performed. One patient presenting with a space-occupying solitary cerebral lesion typical of PCNSL had an associated HTLV-1 infection. We also included two cases with exclusive involvement of the spinal cord. These cases show that a range of clinical and radiographic presentations can be seen. Some authors described two cases and reviewed 20 additional cases from the literature.7 Similar to this series, those reports described patients with a wide range of ages, from childhood to the seventh decade, and a slight male predominance. In contrast to our series, in which one third of patients had deep lesions (including cerebellum, brainstem, corpus callosum, and basal ganglia), the posterior fossa was involved in more than one half of cases previously described in the literature. One study suggested that T-cell phenotype possibly conferred a worse prognosis than B-cell PCNSL, but another hypothesized that since a significant proportion of TPCNSL has "low grade" features (such as small lymphocytic in the Working Formulation), a more favorable outcome could be expected.4 In our series, the median survival of patients with TPCNSL appears to be similar to that described for large series of PCNSL in general. Our study population was treated in a manner similar to that described for PCNSL, in that comparable proportions of patients received chemotherapy, irradiation, or combined-modality treatment.13 These findings suggest that the outcomes we describe are probably due to intrinsic features of the disease, and not an inherent treatment bias, compared with the more common B-cell PCNSL. In our series cytologic type (small v large) did not affect survival.
We were unable to verify a prognostic scoring system described for PCNSL because information on all five parameters was available in only 14 of the 45 patients.13 Furthermore the patients in this series were not prospectively assembled or uniformly treated; therefore, any prognostic analysis is subject to potential bias. Nevertheless, certain patient- and treatment-related factors may be helpful to the clinician managing this rare disease. In our series, ECOG PS was a strong predictor of DSS, but age ( This study has several limitations. Not all members of the IPCG submitted data; some centers had no cases on record, and others did not reply. Institutions from Japan were not included. Therefore, the series may not be representative of all TPCNSL. The cases were not prospectively assembled, and some information was unavailable. We did not verify all of the source information from the original charts, and relied mostly on already abstracted records. We did not have access to the original pathology slides, and were able to review the original pathology reports in only 25 of 45 cases. Despite these limitations, our descriptive and outcome data are similar to those previously reported for TPCNSL.7 Given the rarity of this condition, however, such a retrospective review constitutes the best available approach to characterizing TPCNSL. Even assembling 45 cases could be accomplished only with wide international cooperation across many centers.
In summary, TPCNSL is a rare disorder with characteristics at presentation and outcomes similar to that of PCNSL in general. In this series, PS
Members of the IPCG: Abrey, Lauren E.; Armitage, James O.; Baars, Joke W.; Batchelor, Tracy; Bessell, Eric; Betensky, Rebecca; Bierman, Phil; Blay, Jean-Yves; Borisch, Bettina; Cavalli, Franco; Child, Tony; Colombat, Philippe; Connors, Joseph M.; DAddario, Giannicola; DeAngelis, Lisa M.; Delattre, Jean-Yves; Desablens, Bernard; Doorduijn, Jeannette K; Dorfman, Molly; Ferreri, Andrés; Fine, Howard; Finke, Jürgen; Girinsky, Théo; Glasmacher, Axel; Glass, Jon; Gospodarowicz, Mary; Graus, Frances; Grigg, Andrew; Grossman, Stuart; Guttenberger, Roland; Haaxma-Reiche, Hanny; Hansen, Mads; Harris, Nancy; Herrlinger, Ulrich; Hoang-Xuan, Khé; Hochberg, Fred; Hofer, Silvia; Illerhaus, Gerald; Jacobsen, Elisa; Jahnke, Kristoph; Kluin-Nelemans, Hanneke; Korfel, Agnieszka; Lister, Andrew; Laperriere, Normand; Lugtenburg, Elly; Neuwelt, Edward A.; OBrien, Peter; ONeill, Brian P.; Pels, Hendrik; Ponzoni, Maurilio; Poortmans, Philip; Raemaekers, John; Reni, Michele; Rosenthal, Mark; Rosta, András; Rozewicz, Cynthia M.; Rubenstein, James L.; Salles, Gilles; Schiff, David; Schlegel, Uwe; Schmidt-Wolf, Ingo; Sebban, Catherine; Seymour, John; Shenkier, Tamara; Soussain, Carole; Stupp, Roger; Swinnen, Lode; Teodorovic, Ivana; Thiel, Eckhard; Thomas, José; Tsang, Richard; van den Bent, Martin; van Hoof, Achiel; van Imhoff, Gustaaf; van Ossenkoppele, Gert; Weller, Michael; Yahalom, Joachim; and Zucca, Emmanule.
Authors Disclosures of Potential Conflicts of Interest
We thank Franco Cavalli, MD, for spearheading the creation of the IPCG under the IELSG, and James Armitage, MD, for his suggestion to study TPCNSL.
Authors disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article.
1. Behin A, Hoang-Xuan K, Carpentier AF, et al: Primary brain tumours in adults. Lancet 361:323-331, 2003[CrossRef][Medline] 2. Miller DC, Hochberg FH, Harris NL, et al: Pathology with clinical correlations of primary central nervous system non-Hodgkins lymphoma: The Massachusetts General Hospital experience 1958-1989. Cancer 74:1383-1397, 1994[CrossRef][Medline] 3. DeAngelis LM: Primary CNS lymphoma: Treatment with combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy. J Neurooncol 43:249-257, 1999[CrossRef][Medline]
4. Gijtenbeek JM, Rosenblum MK, DeAngelis LM: Primary central nervous system T-cell lymphoma. Neurology 57:716-718, 2001
5. McCue MP, Sandrock AW, Lee JM, et al: Primary T-cell lymphoma of the brainstem. Neurology 43:377-381, 1993
6. Ponzoni M, Terreni MR, Ciceri F, et al: Primary brain CD30+ ALK1+ anaplastic large cell lymphoma ('ALKoma): The first case with a combination of not common variants. Ann Oncol 13:1827-1832, 2002 7. Villegas E, Villa S, Lopez-Guillermo A, et al: Primary central nervous system lymphoma of T-cell origin: Description of two cases and review of the literature. J Neurooncol 34:157-161, 1997[CrossRef][Medline] 8. Hayabuchi N, Shibamoto Y, Onizuka Y: Primary central nervous system lymphoma in Japan: A nationwide survey. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 44:265-272, 1999[CrossRef][Medline] 9. Bataille B, Delwail V, Menet E, et al: Primary intracerebral malignant lymphoma: Report of 248 cases. J Neurosurg 92:261-266, 2000[CrossRef][Medline] 10. Ferreri AJ, Reni M, Pasini F, et al: A multicenter study of treatment of primary CNS lymphoma. Neurology 58:1513-1520, 2002[Medline] 11. Kaplan EL, Meier P: Nonparametric estimation from incomplete observations. J Am Statist Assoc 53:457-481, 1958[CrossRef] 12. Peto R, Peto J: Asymptotically efficient rank invarian test procedures. J R Stat Soc [Ser A] 135:185-207, 1972
13. Ferreri AJ, Blay JY, Reni M, et al: Prognostic scoring system for primary CNS lymphomas: The International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group experience. J Clin Oncol 21:266-272, 2003
14. DeAngelis LM, Seiferheld W, Schold SC, et al: Combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy for primary central nervous system lymphoma: Radiation Therapy Oncology Group study 93-10. J Clin Oncol 20:4643-4648, 2002 15. Abrey LE, DeAngelis LM, Yahalom J: Long-term survival in primary CNS lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 16:859-863, 1998[Abstract]
16. Abrey LE, Yahalom J, DeAngelis LM: Treatment for primary CNS lymphoma: The next step. J Clin Oncol 18:3144-3150, 2000
17. Poortmans PMP, Kluin-Nelemans HC, Haaxma-Reiche H, et al: High-dose methotrexate-based chemotherapy followed by consolidating radiotherapy in non-AIDS-related primary central nervous system lymphoma: European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Lymphoma Group phase II trial 20962. J Clin Oncol 21:4483-4488, 2003
18. Blay JY, Bouhour D, Carrie C, et al: The C5R protocol: A regimen of high-dose chemotherapy and radiotherapy in primary cerebral non-Hodgkins lymphoma of patients with no known cause of immunosuppression. Blood 86:2922-2929, 1995 19. Neuwelt EA, Goldman DL, Dahlborg SA, et al: Primary CNS lymphoma treated with osmotic blood-brain barrier disruption: Prolonged survival and preservation of cognitive function. J Clin Oncol 9:1580-1590, 1991[Abstract] 20. Blay JY, Conroy T, Chevreau C, et al: High-dose methotrexate for the treatment of primary cerebral lymphomas: Analysis of survival and late neurologic toxicity in a retrospective series. J Clin Oncol 16:864-871, 1998[Abstract] Submitted July 19, 2004; accepted December 14, 2004.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
Copyright © 2005 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Online ISSN: 1527-7755. Print ISSN: 0732-183X
|