Cytogenetic abnormalities and clinical correlations in peripheral T‐cell lymphoma

Summary Cytogenetic correlations among most types of peripheral T‐cell lymphoma (PTCL) have not been very informative to date. This study aimed to identify recurrent chromosomal abnormalities in angioimmunoblastic T‐cell lymphoma (AITL), ALK‐ negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma ( ALK ‐ALCL) and peripheral T‐cell lymphoma, unspecified (PTCL‐US), and to evaluate their prognostic value. We reviewed the cytogenetic findings of 90 previously‐diagnosed cases of PTCL and correlated the cytogenetic findings with the specific histological subtype. The most common abnormalities for AITL were 5q (55%), 21 (41%) and 3q (36%) gains, concurrent trisomies of 5 and 21 (41%), and loss of 6q (23%). In ALK (‐) ALCL, gains of 1q (50%) and 3p (30%), and losses of 16pter (50%), 6q13q21 (30%), 15 (30%), 16qter (30%) and 17p13 (30%) were frequent findings. In PTCL‐US, frequent gains involved 7q22q31 (33%), 1q (24%), 3p (20%), 5p (20%), and 8q24qter (22%), and losses of 6q22q24 (26%) and 10p13pter (26%). We did not observe any association between specific chromosomal abnormalities and overall survival (OS). However, cases with complex karyotypes, most frequently observed in ALK (‐) ALCL and PTCL‐US, had a significantly shorter OS. Although, genetic differences were noted in these subtypes, further studies are needed to determine the key pathogenetic events in PTCL.