Diagnosis and treatment of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma and related cancers

Gene and protein expression profiling has clarified that tumor cells in angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) have T follicular helper (TFH) cell characteristics. In AITL, typical genomic abnormalities have been reported that combine G17V RHOA mutations, gene mutations involved in epigenetic pathways, and those involved in T-cell receptor signal pathways. Besides AITL, some lymphomas display a TFH phenotype, prompting the proposal of a new disease classification encompassing those. Interestingly, lymphomas with TFH phenotype characteristics also share most genomic abnormalities with AITL. Furthermore, because AITL genomic abnormalities are highly disease specific, they can be used for diagnosis. Although AITL is a refractory disease, several new drugs have been approved for relapsed and refractory cases. Precision medicine targeting genomic aberrations characteristic of AITL is being investigated.