Immunohistochemical features of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) in various types of lymphoma: A single center experience

Indolamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an intracellular enzyme that catalyzes amino acid tryptophan to L-kynurenine. IDO is overexpressed in various cancers and several IDO inhibitors have been assessed in multiple clinical trials. If an IDO inhibitor is to be commercialized, IDO immunohistochemistry will be an important method. In this study, 80% (28/35) of mature T- and natural killer (NK)-cell neoplasms showed positivity for IDO protein (score 1: five, score 2: one, score 3: seven, score 4: fifteen). In addition, 29.9% (23/77) of mature B-cell lymphomas showed positivity for IDO protein (score 1: three, score 2: tewelve, score 3: four, score 4: four). In mature Bcell lymphomas, 95.7% (22/23) of IDO positive cases were diffuse B-cell lymphomas. Our study includes various types of lymphoma that were previously unreported and shows various patterns of IDO stain according to the type. When the results are accumulated, IDO immunohistochemistry will be a useful tool to diagnose lymphomas and to predict their prognosis.