General Information About AIDS-Related Lymphoma

Related Summaries

The AIDS was first described in 1981, and the first definitions included certain opportunistic infections, Kaposi sarcoma, and central nervous system (CNS) lymphomas. In 1984, a multicenter study described the clinical spectrum of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) in the populations at risk for AIDS.[1] In 1985 and 1987, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised the definition of AIDS to include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients who had aggressive B-cell NHL. The incidence of NHL has increased in an almost parallel course with the AIDS epidemic and accounts for 2% to 3% of newly diagnosed AIDS cases.[2]

Pathologically, AIDS-related lymphomas are comprised of a narrow spectrum of histologic types consisting almost exclusively of B-cell tumors of aggressive type. These include the following:

• Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
• B-cell immunoblastic lymphoma.
• Small noncleaved lymphoma, either Burkitt or Burkitt-like.

The HIV-associated lymphomas can be categorized into the following:

• Aggressive B-cell lymphoma.
• Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), which represents 20% of all NHL cases in AIDS patients.
• Primary effusion lymphoma.
• Plasmablastic multicentric Castleman disease.
• Hodgkin lymphoma.

Primary effusion lymphoma has been associated with Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes-virus/human herpes virus type-8 (KSHV/HHV-8).[3,4] Primary effusion lymphoma presents as a liquid phase spreading along serous membranes in the absence of masses or adenopathy.[3] In addition to HHV-8, many cases are also associated with Epstein-Barr virus. Extension of lymphoma from the effusion to underlying tissue may occur. Plasmablastic multicentric Castleman disease is also associated with a coinfection of KSHV/HHV-8 and HIV.[5,6] Patients typically present with fever, night sweats, weight loss, lymphadenopathy, and hepatosplenomegaly. Patients may progress to primary effusion lymphoma or to plasmablastic or anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Anecdotal responses to rituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, have been reported.[5][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiv]

An international database of 48,000 HIV-seropositive individuals from the United States, Europe, and Australia found a 42% decline in the incidence of NHLs from 1997 to 1999 compared with 1992 to 1996, both for PCNSL and for systemic lymphoma.[7] The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is the proposed explanation for this decline.[8] The diagnosis of AIDS precedes the onset of NHL in approximately 57% of the patients, but in 30% of the patients the diagnosis of AIDS is made at the time of the diagnosis of NHL and HIV positivity.[9] The geographic distribution of these lymphomas is also similar to the geographic spread of AIDS. Unlike Kaposi sarcoma, which has a predilection for homosexual men and appears to be on the decline in incidence, all risk groups appear to have an excess number of NHLs; these risk groups include intravenous drug users and children of HIV-positive individuals.

In general, the clinical setting and response to treatment of patients with AIDS-related lymphoma is very different from that of the non-HIV patients with lymphoma. The HIV-infected individual with aggressive lymphoma usually presents with advanced-stage disease that is frequently extranodal.[10]

Common extranodal sites include the following:

• Bone marrow.
• Liver.
• Meninges.
• Gastrointestinal tract.

Very unusual sites are also characteristic and include the following:

• Anus.
• Heart.
• Bile duct.
• Gingiva.
• Muscles.

The clinical course is more aggressive, and the disease is both more extensive and less responsive to chemotherapy. Immunodeficiency and cytopenias, common in these patients at the time of initial presentation, are exacerbated by the administration of chemotherapy. Treatment of the malignancy increases the risk of opportunistic infections that, in turn, further compromise the delivery of adequate treatment.

Prognoses of patients with AIDS-related lymphoma have been associated with the following:[11]

• Stage (i.e., extent of disease, extranodal involvement, lactate dehydrogenase level, and bone marrow involvement).
• Age.
• Severity of the underlying immunodeficiency (measured by CD4 lymphocyte count in peripheral blood).
• Performance status.
• Prior AIDS diagnosis (i.e., history of opportunistic infection or Kaposi sarcoma).

Patients with AIDS-related PCNSL appear to have more severe underlying HIV-related disease than do patients with systemic lymphoma. In one report, this severity was evidenced by patients with PCNSL having a higher incidence of prior AIDS diagnoses (73% vs. 37%), lower median number of CD4 lymphocytes (30/dL vs. 189/dL), and a worse median survival time (2.5 months vs. 6.0 months).[12] This report also showed that patients with poor risk factors—defined as Karnofsky performance status <70%, history of prior AIDS diagnosis, and bone marrow involvement—had a median survival time of 4.0 months compared with a good prognosis group without any of these risk factors, who had a median survival time of 11.3 months.

In another report (NIAID-ACTG-142), prognostic factors were evaluated in a group of 192 patients with newly diagnosed AIDS-related lymphoma who were randomly assigned to receive either low-dose methotrexate, bleomycin, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and dexamethasone (m-BACOD) or standard dose m-BACOD with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor.[13] No differences existed between these two treatments in terms of efficacy for disease-free survival, median survival, or risk ratio for death.[13][Level of evidence: 1iiA] On multivariate analysis , factors associated with decreased survival included age older than 35 years, history of intravenous drug use, stage III or stage IV disease, and CD4 counts of less than 100 cells/mm³. The median survival rates were 46 weeks for patients with one or no risk factors, 44 weeks for patients with two risk factors, and 18 weeks for patients with three or more risk factors. The International Prognostic Index may also be predictive for survival.[14-16] In a multicenter cohort study of 203 patients, in a multivariable Cox model, response to HAART was independently associated with prolonged survival (relative hazard = 0.32; 95% confidence interval, 0.16–0.62).[17][Level of evidence: 3iiiDii]

HIV-associated Hodgkin lymphoma

Multiple reviews of Hodgkin lymphoma occurring in patients at risk for AIDS have been done;[18,19] however, Hodgkin lymphoma is still not part of the CDC definition of AIDS because of no clear demonstration of its increased incidence in conjunction with HIV, as is the case for aggressive NHL. The CDC, in conjunction with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, has reported a cohort study in which HIV-infected men had an excess risk that was attributable to the HIV infection of 19.3 cases of Hodgkin lymphoma per 100,000 person-years and 224.9 cases of NHL per 100,000 person-years. Although an excess incidence of Hodgkin lymphoma was found in HIV-infected homosexual men in this report, additional epidemiologic studies will be needed before the CDC will reconsider Hodgkin lymphoma as an HIV-associated malignancy.[20]

HIV-associated Hodgkin lymphoma presents in an aggressive fashion, often with extranodal or bone marrow involvement.[18,19,21] A distinctive feature of HIV-associated Hodgkin lymphoma is the lower frequency of mediastinal adenopathy compared with non-HIV-associated Hodgkin lymphoma. Most patients in these series had either mixed cellularity or lymphocyte-depleted Hodgkin lymphoma, expression of Epstein-Barr virus-associated proteins in Reed-Sternberg cells, B symptoms, and a median CD4 lymphocyte count of 300/dL or less.[22] In a retrospective multicenter review of 62 patients, those receiving HAART with chemotherapy had a 74% 2-year overall survival (OS) versus a 30% OS for those not receiving HAART (P < .001).[23][Level of evidence: 3iiiA]

Note: Other PDQ summaries containing information about AIDS-related lymphoma include the following:

• Kaposi Sarcoma
• Primary CNS Lymphoma

References

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3. Simonelli C, Spina M, Cinelli R, et al.: Clinical features and outcome of primary effusion lymphoma in HIV-infected patients: a single-institution study. J Clin Oncol 21 (21): 3948-54, 2003.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
4. Nador RG, Cesarman E, Chadburn A, et al.: Primary effusion lymphoma: a distinct clinicopathologic entity associated with the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus. Blood 88 (2): 645-56, 1996.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
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