CD44 as a diagnostic and prognostic marker in Egyptian patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma : Hasnaa A. A. a, Mohamed A. E. a, Eman H. S. a, Hanaa M. A. b

Egyptian Journal of Hematology 2015, 40:130–137. Department of Clinical Pathology, Sohag Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University a, Sohag, Department of Clinical  Pathology, Ain Shams Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University b,  Egypt

Correspondence to Hasnaa A.A., MD, Clinical Pathology Department, Sohag University Hospital, Sohag, Egypt. Received 02 May 2015 Accepted 15 May 2015

Background CD44 is an adhesion molecule that plays a role in lymphocyte homing; it is a multifunctional cell surfacemolecule involved in cell proliferation, angiogenesis, presentation of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors. Patients and methods This study was carried out on 50 newly diagnosed non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients (33 men and 17 women) and 20 healthy controls; the patients were divided into two groups: group I included 20 patients with stage I, II, and III non-Hodgkin lymphoma and group II included 30 patients with stage IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma They ranged in age from 38 to 75 years; all patients were subjected to a clinical examination, a complete blood count, bone marrow aspiration, and immunophenotyping using monoclonal for CD44 in addition to a routine panel of different chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (CD19, CD5, CD10, CD20, CD22, CD23, SIgM, CD38, CD79b, FMC7,

CD103, CD123, ê, and l light chains). Results CD19, CD20, CD22, CD23, ê/CD19, CD5/CD19,

CD10, CD123, and CD103 expression levels showed no statistically significant differences between group I

and group II, using the Mann–Whitney U-test, whereas other investigations showed significant differences; these differences were highly significant in terms of gated cell count, CD79b, SIgM, FMC7, l/CD19, and CD44 expression levels. There was a positive correlation with significant differences between CD44 and FMC7, lymphocytic count,and LDH, a positive correlation with significant differences between CD44 and gated cell count and SIgM, and a highly statistically significant correlation between CD44 and l/CD19, FMC7, lymphocytic count, and platelet count. Sixty percent of CD44-positive patients in group II had lymph node enlargement compared with only 15% of CD44- positive patients in group I.

Conclusion Strong CD44 expression appears to be a powerful prognostic indicator in adult non-Hodgkin’s

lymphoma, with no difference between male and female patients. It is associated with standard poor

prognostic markers such as bone marrow infiltration.Egyptian J Haematol 40:130–137 © 2015 The Egyptian

Society of Haematology.

Egyptian Journal of Haematology 2015, 40:130–137

Keywords: CD44, marker, infiltrating, non-Hodgkin lymphoma