Background: The response of tumors to chemotherapy (CHT) exhibits wide individual variations.
Patients and methods: We examined the incidence of polymorphic TNF genes in 61 patients treated for Hodgkin lymphoma.
Results: During treatment, the patients were divided as responders or non-responders, depending upon the amount of CHT required for a clinical eradication of the tumor. The incidence of TNFa4, a microsatellite allele associated with low TNF production in leukocytes, was significantly higher in responders than in non-responders (25.7% vs 0 %, p=0.04). We also examined the incidence of tumor relapses 2-5 years after treatment. The incidence of TNFa4 was also significantly higher in patients with relapses, than in those without relapses (41.1% vs 9.3%, p=0.007).
Conclusion: These results indicate that TNFa4 is a marker of resistance of Hodgkin lymphoma to chemotherapy and most probably is a marker of bad prognosis.