Clinical data of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) complicated by diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and comparator cases with DLBCL but no inflammatory disease. Information about Ann Arbor stage, extranodal involvement, and DLBCL subtype was available in 90 of the RA patients and 61, 58, and 60 of the comparator cases, respectively. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was analyzed in 91 of the RA patients.
| Characteristic | SLE, n = 12 | RA, n = 95 | Comparator Cases, n = 63 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. female (%)/no. male | 12 (100)/0 | 53 (56)/42 | 31 (49)/32 |
| Age, mean (SD) yrs | 45.8 (14.6) | 50.8 (13.7) | — |
| Age | |||
| Age, mean (SD) yrs at diagnosis of lymphoma | 60 (15.0) | 71 (9.6) | 70 (13.0) |
| Treatment for SLE/RA† | |||
| Ever (%) | — | ||
| Immunosuppressive drug | 4* (33) | 17** (18) | |
| Oral glucocorticoids | 11 (92) | 41 (45) | |
| At lymphoma diagnosis (%) | |||
| Immunosuppressive drug | 0 | 10*** (11) | |
| Oral glucocorticoids | 10 (83) | 20 (22) | |
| Lymphoma stage, Ann Arbor (%) | |||
| I | — | 13/90 (14) | 16/61 (26) |
| II | 2 (17) | 15 (17) | 11 (18) |
| III | 4 (33) | 17 (19) | 10 (16) |
| IV | 6 (50) | 45 (50) | 24 (39) |
| Extranodal involvement | 6 (50) | 59/90 (66) | 27/58 (47) |
| EBV†† | 1 (8) | 10/91 (11) | Not assessed |
| DLBCL subtype# | |||
| GC | 2 (17) | 26/90 (29) | 26/60 (43) |
| Non-GC | 10 (83) | 64 (71) | 34 (57) |
| Overall survival from diagnosis of lymphoma, mean yrs (range) | 8.4 (0–26) | 2.0 (0–22) | 5.1 (0–18) |
↵† Defined as regular treatment ≥ 4 weeks;
↵* AZA (n = 4);
↵** AZA (n = 6), POD (n = 6), CYC (n = 4), MTX (n = 3), CHL (n = 1); 3 patients > 1 immunosuppressive drug.
↵*** POD (n = 5), MTX (n = 3), AZA (n = 1), CHL (n = 1).
↵†† Analyzed by EBV-related RNA in situ hybridization in lymphoma tissue.
↵# According to the model by Hans, et al24. AZA: azathioprine; POD: podophyllotoxin; CYC: cyclophosphamide; MTX: methotrexate; CHL: chlorambucil; GC: germinal cell.