The value of B-cell lymphoma 2 and CD20 markers forpredicting response to treatment and disease recurrence inpatients suffering Hodgkin’s disease

Introduction: The specific markers on the cell surface can facilitate early diagnosis of the disease and also predicting response to treatment, disease recurrence and even patients’ survival in cancer patients. Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the two specific markers of Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2) and CD20 for predicting lack of response to treatment, and disease recurrence in patients suffering from Hodgkin’s disease. Patients and Methods: This case-control study was conducted on patients with classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma, who are resistant to treatment with relapse (case group; n=31) and gender and agematched patients’ group appropriately responder to the conventional treatment (control group; n = 31). Two slides of specimens in each group were stained with the H&E satin and two other sections with monoclonal antibodies Bcl-2 and CD20. Results: The positivity of CD20 and Bcl-2, markers was overall 21% and 27.4% respectively. The expression of Bcl-2 increased the risk of resistance to treatment or relapse by 2.3 times. CD20 expression reduced the risk of treatment resistance or relapse by 4.4 times. Based on the multivariable logistic regression model, the expression of Bcl-2 (OR = 7.300, P=0.026) was revealed as a marker of increasing resistance to treatment or the risk of relapse. While, expression of two CD20 markers (OR = 0.92, P=0.016) was recognized as a marker of reducing or resistance to treatment or recurrence risk of disease. Conclusion: Increasing the expression of Bcl-2 marker and decreasing the expression of CD20 marker are considered as determinant factors associated with recurrence of disease or lack of response to treatment in classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma.