Digital and manual interfollicular Ki-67 are associated with a progression-free survival in patients with low-grade follicular lymphoma.

Objectives: Novel histopathologic prognostic factors are needed to identify patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) at risk of inferior outcomes. Our primary objective was to evaluate the Ki-67 proliferative index in follicular and interfollicular areas in tissue biopsy specimens from patients with newly diagnosed FL and correlate with clinical outcomes. Our secondary objective was to correlate PD-L1 and LAG-3 with clinical outcomes.

Methods: Seventy cases of low-grade FL from the University of Minnesota were evaluated with Ki-67 immunohistochemical stain. Ki-67 expression as a continuous variable was interpreted digitally and manually in follicular and interfollicular areas. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed by Cox regression, and hazard ratios (HRs) per 10-point increase in Ki-67 were calculated.

Results: Progression-free survival at 4 years was 28% (95% CI, 19%-41%). Interfollicular, but not follicular, Ki-67 was associated with PFS by manual (HR, 1.33; P = .01) and digital (HR, 1.38; P = .02) analysis. Digital and manual Ki-67 were only moderately correlated but demonstrated similar effects on PFS. At 4 years, OS was 90% with no association with follicular or interfollicular Ki-67 proliferation.

Conclusions: Higher interfollicular Ki-67 by either digital or manual analysis is associated with a poorer PFS in patients with low-grade FL. These results suggest further validation of this marker is warranted to improve pathologic risk stratification at FL diagnosis. PD-L1 and LAG-3 were not associated with PFS or OS.