Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis associated with extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma, nasal type or aggressive NK cell leukemia: a retrospective multicenter study of Jiangsu Cooperative Lymphoma Group (JCLG)

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening hyperinflammatory syndrome, among which NK-cell malignancy-associated HLH represents a clinically rare entity that has not been systematically investigated. The multicenter retrospective cohort study analyzed data from 136 adult patients diagnosed with HLH related to NK-cell malignancies between 2010 and 2024. The results demonstrated that initial treatment with etoposide-containing HLH therapy improved 60-day survival rates (P = 0.009) but did not affect overall survival (OS) (P = 0.306), whereas asparaginase-containing lymphoma regimens significantly improved both OS (P = 0.025) and 60-day survival rates (P = 0.016) in treatment-naive patients. By multivariate analysis, significant independent predictors of 60-day poor outcomes included serum albumin level < 30 g/L (HR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.08-3.83; P = 0.029), platelet count < 20 × 10⁹/L (HR, 2.70; 95% CI, 1.46-4.99; P = 0.002), and Epstein-Barr virus DNA (whole blood) > 33,850 copies/mL (HR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.01-3.81; P = 0.045). ECOG performance status ≥ 2 (HR, 2.00; 95% CI, 1.24-3.23; P = 0.004) and platelet count < 20 × 10⁹/L (HR, 7.61; 95% CI, 2.14-27.09; P = 0.002) were independent risk factors for poor OS. Therefore, we recommend asparaginase-based regimens as first-line therapy for treatment-naive adult patients with HLH related to NK-cell malignancies. Future multicenter prospective studies are warranted to optimize asparaginase-containing regimens, evaluate novel combination strategies, and establish precision risk-prediction models to guide clinical practice.