Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a group of aggressive B-cell lymphomas displaying heterogeneous outcomes after treatment. Some patients have the slowly progressing disease that does not require immediate treatment, while others have a disease that rapidly progresses despite highly aggressive treatment. A number of prognostic tools have been described to determine whether patients have slow or rapidly progressing diseases, including the mantle cell lymphoma International Prognostic Index (MIPI) and biomarkers, such as KI-67.
Researchers have discovered a novel method of predicting a MCL patient’s overall survival prognosis (poor, intermediate, or good) by measuring the gene expression profile of a specific subset of biomarkers from a biopsy and using a set of statistical algorithms to analyze the results and produce a “survival score”. The survival score enables a physician to determine the best course of treatment, such as a less aggressive or more aggressive treatment protocol or an experimental treatment that would be the most beneficial for an MCL patient.