Chromosomal anomalies in primary cutaneous follicle center cell lymphoma do not portend a poor prognosis

Background: The t(14;18)(q32;q21) chromosomal translocation is found in the majority of nodal follicular lymphomas but only rarely in primary cutaneous follicle center cell lymphomas (PCFCL). Recent studies have postulated that the translocation is more prevalent in PCFCL than previously described and that it might be a molecular prognostic marker.

Objectives: The purpose of our study was to analyze cases of PCFCL for the presence of a t(14; 18) translocation using fluorescence in situ hybridization to detect balanced translocations involving either the BCL2 or MALT1 loci and to correlate the results with growth pattern, immunophenotype, and clinical outcome.

Method: In all, 57 patients with PCFCL were extracted from our cutaneous lymphoma database. Retrospective analysis of clinical parameters including lesion type, location, diagnostic stage, lactate dehydrogenase, initial treatment, relapse rate, and survival was performed.

Results: In all, 57 patients with PCFCL were included in this study. We detected 1 BCL2 chromosomal amplification, 4 translocations of BCL2, and 1 IGH/MALT1 translocation.

Limitations: This was a case series retrospective study.

Conclusions: PCFCL has an excellent 5-year overall survival (100% disease-specific survival). Chromosomal abnormalities of either BCL2 or MALT1 were detected in 10% of cases but do not correlate with a specific immune pathology or clinical outcome.