Abstract
Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) is a rare, highly aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtype for which no standardized therapeutic regimen has been established in clinical practice. This study retrospectively analyzed 18 PBL cases at Shanghai Ruijin Hospital from July 2012 to June 2024. Participants comprised 12 males and 6 females, with a median age of 59 (39-77) years. Twelve (66.7% ) cases presented at stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ, nine (50% ) have cytopenia, 12 (66.7% ) have increased lactate dehydrogenase level, and four (22.2% ) had a Ki-67 index of ≥90%. The tumor cells highly expressed CD38 (15/17, 88.2% ) /CD138 (12/17, 70.6% ), whereas the B-cell marker CD20 was rarely detected (1/17, 5.9% ). Of the 11 cases that underwent genetic sequencing, common mutations included TP53 (27.3% ), KMT2D (18.2% ), and TET2 (18.2% ). After excluding one patient with positive HIV who died without treatment, 17 patients received first-line therapy, achieving a complete response in 10 (58.8% ) and a partial response in 5 (29.4% ) cases. With the median follow-up time of 4.33 (0.17-12.17) years, Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that the 2-year progression-free survival rate and overall survival rate were (68.5±11.2) % and (75.5±10.1) %, respectively.