RATIONALE/HYPOTHESIS: Forkhead box protein P1 (FOXP1) is one member of the forkhead box protein P (FOXP) subfamily, which are transcription factors that mediate signaling and affect gene regulation, and elevated expression of FOXP1 has been reported to correlate with poor prognosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Recently, it was also found that FOXP1 expression occurs in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas.
Objective: FOXP1 expression and its relationship to morphology and prognosis in a series of 43 gastric MALT lymphomas were investigated retrospectively.
Findings: The FOXP1 nuclear expression (44.2%, 19/43) of tumors between mono- and polymorphic histology (4 of 26 [15.4%] vs. 15 of 17 [88.2%]) was significantly different (p < 0.001). All 14 relapsed tumors after operation featured strong nuclear FOXP1 positivity. A significantly shorter cumulative 10-year survival (52.6%,10/19) was found in high FOXP1 expression patients, compared with patients with negative expression (83.3%, 20/24) (p < 0.01). Also, the cumulative 10-year survival rate (30.8%, 4/13) for stage IIE+IV was significantly shorter than that (83.3%, 25/30) in stage I+II (p < 0.01). Moreover, high FOXP1 expression and advanced stage IIE+IV were independent prognostic factors in multivariate Cox regression analysis.
Conclusions: Our results show that FOXP1 expression is correlated with morphic histology, and FOXP1 and clinical staging appear to be independent prognostic factors in gastric MALT lymphomas.
Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.