A stepwise approach was used to select a subset of gene candidates to achieve the highest performance, and a risk model was established for predicting DLBCL prognosis based on the expression levels of five genes including CEBPA, CYP27A1, LST1, MREG, and TARP. We evaluated the model performance using an independent gene expression dataset and compared it with previously reported models. Here, CYP27A1 is linked to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.