Ki-67 as a prognostic marker in mantle cell lymphoma—consensus guidelines of the pathology panel of the European MCL Network

• Published in: Journal of hematopathology Vol. 2; no. 2; pp. 103 - 111
• Main Authors: Klapper, Wolfram, Hoster, Eva, Determann, Olaf, Oschlies, Ilske, van der Laak, Jeroen, Berger, Françoise, Bernd, Heinz Wolfram, Cabeçadas, José, Campo, Elias, Cogliatti, Sergio, Hansmann, Martin Leo, Kluin, Philip M., Kodet, Roman, Krivolapov, Yuri A., Loddenkemper, Christoph, Stein, Harald, Möller, Peter, Barth, Thomas E. F., Müller-Hermelink, Konrad, Rosenwald, Andreas, Ott, German, Pileri, Stefano, Ralfkiaer, Elisabeth, Rymkiewicz, Grzegorz, van Krieken, Johan H., Wacker, Hans Heinrich, Unterhalt, Michael, Hiddemann, Wolfgang, Dreyling, Martin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.07.2009
• Subjects: Hematology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original; Original Article; Pathology; European MCL Network; Ki-67; Consensus guidelines; Prognostic marker; Mantle cell lymphoma
• ISSN: 1868-9256; 1865-5785
• DOI: 10.1007/s12308-009-0036-x

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) has a heterogeneous clinical course and is mainly an aggressive B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma; however, there are some indolent cases The Ki-67 index, defined by the percentage of Ki-67-positive lymphoma cells on histopathological slides, has been shown to be a very powerful prognostic biomarker. The pathology panel of the European MCL Network evaluated methods to assess the Ki-67 index including stringent counting, digital image analysis, and estimation by eyeballing. Counting of 2 × 500 lymphoma cells is the gold standard to assess the Ki-67 index since this value has been shown to predict survival in prospective randomized trials of the European MCL Network . Estimation by eyeballing and digital image analysis showed a poor concordance with the gold standard (concordance correlation coefficients [CCC] between 0.29 and 0.61 for eyeballing and CCC of 0.24 and 0.37 for two methods of digital image analysis, respectively). Counting a reduced number of lymphoma cells (2 × 100 cells) showed high interobserver agreement (CCC = 0.74). Pitfalls of the Ki-67 index are discussed and guidelines and recommendations for assessing the Ki-67 index in MCL are given.