Prognostic impact of p53 aberrations for R-CHOP-treated patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

We performed complex analysis of the p53 tumor suppressor in collection of 75 DLBCL cases. Fifty four patients were de novo cases, twenty one cases developed into DLBCL by transformation from less aggressive disease. We determined functional status by analysis of separated alleles in yeast (FASAY) and analyzed the p53 mutations by cDNA sequencing. We assessed the level of the p53 protein by immunoblotting analysis. We used FISH to analyze loss of the p53 and ATM (ataxia telangiectasia mutated) genes deletion. We detected 16 p53 mutations (21.3%) including the mutation activating nonsense-mediated RNA decay pathway. Deletion of the p53 allele was more common in cases with p53 mutation. Mutations and/or deletions of p53 had statistically significant negative impact on progression-free survival and tended to decrease also overall survival in 46 de novo DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP. p53 aberrations are negative predictors for survival of DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP.