Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an aggressive lymphoma with accepted risk factors such as proliferation markers. To date, the different follicular dendritic cell (FDC) patterns have never been analyzed in comparison with the overall survival time. Lymph node biopsy specimens from 96 patients were analyzed by conventional morphology and immunohistochemistry with antibodies against cluster differentiation (CD)20, CD5, CD23, cyclin D1, and FDC (Ki-M4P). Two groups can be distinguished with different FDC patterns: a nodular pattern in 79 cases and a diffuse pattern in 17 cases. A Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed significantly better survival for the nodular group (p=0.0312). This group was subdivided into a group with a nodular FDC pattern similar to the FDC distribution in primary follicles (PF-nodular in 72 cases) and one with a nodular FDC pattern resembling the colonization of germinal centers (GCs) by tumor cells (GC-nodular in seven cases). A Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that patients with MCL with a PF-nodular FDC pattern had a significantly better clinical outcome than patients with the other two patterns (p=0.0033). If only cases with classical cytology (n=79) were analyzed (blastoid types excluded), patients with a PF-nodular FDC pattern had a better clinical outcome (p=0.0008). The distribution of FDC in MCL is a diagnostic tool for identifying patients with a better clinical prognosis.

To prospectively assess health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) in women after conserving surgery for breast cancer during/after postoperative 3-D radiotherapy.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a malignant lymphoma associated with a relatively aggressive clinical course and a median overall survival time of 3–4 years. Treatment usually consists of combination chemotherapy, often including topoisomerase (topo) inhibitors such as doxorubicin, etoposide and mitoxantrone. Topo II α is an enzyme that is needed whenever uncoiling of DNA is necessary during the cell cycle. The enzyme is a marker of cell proliferation. We analyzed the expression of topo II α in relation to Ki-67 and the clinical outcome in patients with MCL. Biopsy specimens from 95 untreated patients enrolled in two multicenter trials (1975–1985) were investigated immunohistochemically with monoclonal antibodies against topo II α (Ki-S4) and Ki-67 (Ki-S5). Patients with low (0–10%) topo II α expression had a median overall survival time of 49.0 months, compared to 17.0 months for patients with high (more than 10%) topo II α expression. The Kaplan–Meier analysis showed a significant difference in the overall survival time related to the percentage of topo II α ( P <0.001) and Ki-67 ( P <0.001) positive tumor cells. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed the expression of topo II α as the most important prognostic factor ( P <0.001) in MCL superior to the international prognostic index (IPI), the Ki-67 index and other clinical characteristics.