Immunoglobulin G Fc receptor polymorphisms do not correlate with response to chemotherapy or clinical course in patients with follicular lymphoma

Recently, immunoglobulin G Fc receptor (Fc gamma R) polymorphisms have been found to correlate with the clinical response to rituximab or idiotype vaccine in patients with follicular lymphoma. Two critical questions are whether the Fc gamma R polymorphisms correlate with the clinical outcomes after chemotherapy alone in patients with follicular lymphoma and whether they can be explained by linking to underlying biology of follicular lymphoma. This is an important issue because the clinical decisions about the use of antibody therapy may be based on the Fc gamma R polymorphisms of these patients. Here, we analyzed the Fc gamma RIIIa 158 V/F, Fc gamma RIIa 131 H/R, and Fc gamma RIIb 232 I/T polymorphisms in a group of 188 patients with follicular lymphoma who were treated with chemotherapy without rituximab initially. In the current study, Fc gamma R polymorphisms neither correlated with response rate or time to progression after induction chemotherapy, nor with time to the initial therapy or overall survival after diagnosis. Our results confirm that the correlation between Fc gamma R polymorphisms and clinical outcome is specific to immunotherapy such as rituximab and idiotype vaccination, and not due to any effect on the underlying clinical behavior of the disease or chemotherapy response.