A simplified scoring system in de novo follicular lymphoma treated initially with immunochemotherapy

Abstract

In follicular lymphoma (FL), no prognostic index has been built based solely on a cohort of patients treated with initial immunochemotherapy. There is currently a need to define parsimonious clinical models for trial stratification and to add on biomolecular factors. Here, we confirmed the validity of both the follicular lymphoma international prognostic index (FLIPI) and the FLIPI2 in the large prospective PRIMA trial cohort of 1135 patients treated with initial R-chemotherapy 6 R maintenance. Furthermore, we developed a new prognostic tool comprising only 2 simple parameters (bone marrow involvement and b2-microglobulin [b2m]) to predict progression-free survival (PFS). The final simplified score, called the PRIMA-PI (PRIMA-prognostic index), comprised 3 risk categories: high (b2m > 3 mg/L), low (b2m £ 3 mg/L without bone marrow involvement), and intermediate (b2m £ 3 mg/L with bone marrow involvement). Five-year PFS rates were 69%, 55%, and 37% in the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups, respectively (P < .0001). The PRIMA-PI is a novel and easy-to-compute prognostic index for patients initially treated with immunochemotherapy. This could serve as a basis for building more sophisticated and integrated biomolecular scores.