Importance of cell surface marker to the prognosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

We studied the correlation between the cell surface markers and prognosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients treated in the Shikoku Cancer Center Hospital from 1980 to 1986. Thirty-one cases were selected on the basis of having a lymphnode as a primary lesion, having been immunophenotyped before chemotherapy, being in the intermediate histologic grade and being in stage II, III or IV. Thirteen cases of the T-cell type (T-lymphomas) and 18 cases of the B-cell type (B-lymphoma) were identified. The complete remission rate was 54% among T-lymphoma patients and 78% among B-lymphoma patients. The median length of survival was 12+ months in T-lymphoma and 26+ months in B-lymphoma. The survival rate of T-lymphoma patients was significantly lower than that of B-lymphoma patients. The importance of making surface marker studies was reappraised in our study.