In this multi-institutional retrospective study, we examined characteristics and outcomes of 160 patients with high-grade B-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (HGBL-NOS). This rare lymphoma category is defined by high-grade morphologic features, most commonly Burkitt-like, and lack of MYC rearrangements with BCL2 and/or BCL6 rearrangements (so-called double-hit). Our results show that HGBL-NOS tumors are heterogeneous: 83% had a germinal center B-cell immunophenotype, 37% a dual expressor immunophenotype (MYC and BCL2 expression), 28% (single-hit) MYC rearrangement, 13% BCL2 rearrangement, and 11% BCL6 rearrangement. Most patients presented with stage 4 disease, a high serum lactate dehydrogenase, and other high-risk clinical factors. Most frequent first-line regimens included DA-EPOCH-R (43%), R-CHOP (33%), or other intensive chemotherapy programs (11%). We found no significant differences in the rates of complete response (CR, P=0.32), progression-free (PFS, P=0.82), or overall survival (OS, P=0.60) between these chemotherapy regimens. CR was attained by 69% of patients. PFS at 2 years was 55.2% (95%CI, 46.9-62.7), and OS was 68.1% (95%CI, 59.7-75.0). In a multivariable model, the main prognostic factors for PFS and OS were poor performance status, lactate dehydrogenase >3x upper limit of normal, and a dual expressor immunophenotype. Age >60 years or presence of MYC rearrangement were not prognostic, but patients with TP53 alterations had a dismal PFS (13% at 2 years). Presence of MYC rearrangement was not predictive of better PFS in patients treated with DA-EPOCH-R versus R-CHOP. Improvements in the diagnostic criteria and therapeutic approaches beyond dose-intense chemotherapy are needed to overcome the unfavorable prognosis of patients with HGBL-NOS.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 87. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 27 August 2026.
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Altmetric has tracked 34,306,620 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
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