# CD30 expression (CD30-positive)

Source: https://onco.cc/biomarkers/cd30-expression/  
OnCo record `cd30-expression` (Biomarker). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

CD30 is the antigen of Hodgkin Reed-Sternberg cells and anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Brentuximab vedotin is labelled for Hodgkin lymphoma without a CD30 test and for peripheral T-cell lymphomas that express it.

## Summary

CD30 is read by immunohistochemistry; classical Hodgkin lymphoma and ALCL are uniformly positive, other T-cell lymphomas variably so. Brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) is a CD30-directed antibody-drug conjugate labelled for classical Hodgkin lymphoma (first-line with chemotherapy, consolidation, relapsed), systemic ALCL and CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphomas (ECHELON-2 required at least 10 percent of cells positive) and CD30-expressing mycosis fungoides or primary cutaneous ALCL. No numeric threshold appears in the indications.

## Fields

- Kind: Biomarker
- Last checked: 2026-09-23
- Also known as: CD30-positive; CD30+; CD30 expression; CD30-expressing; CD30 IHC
- Tags: biomarker; surface-antigen

## Notes

- Lymphoma: CD30 is the closest thing in lymphoma to an antigen restricted to the tumour, because resting lymphocytes do not carry it and only activated T and B cells and monocytes do. That is why brentuximab vedotin does not empty a normal compartment the way anti-CD20 does, and why its dose-limiting toxicity is the auristatin payload, as cumulative peripheral neuropathy, rather than the antigen. In classical Hodgkin lymphoma essentially every Reed-Sternberg cell carries it, which is remarkable given that those cells make up a small minority of the tissue (Kuppers 2009).

## Sources

- ADCETRIS prescribing information (DailyMed): https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=3904f8dd-1aef-3490-e48f-bd55f32ed67f
- Kuppers, Nat Rev Cancer 2009: the biology of Hodgkin's lymphoma: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2542

## Connected records

- biomarkers: [CD19 expression (CD19-positive)](https://onco.cc/biomarkers/cd19-expression/)
- cancers: [Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (mycosis fungoides and Sezary syndrome)](https://onco.cc/cancers/cutaneous-t-cell-lymphoma/), [Hodgkin lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma)](https://onco.cc/cancers/peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma/), [Primary mediastinal (thymic) large B-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/primary-mediastinal-b-cell-lymphoma/)
- drugs: [Brentuximab vedotin](https://onco.cc/drugs/brentuximab-vedotin/)
- terms: [Immunohistochemistry (IHC)](https://onco.cc/terms/ihc/), [The Hodgkin microenvironment: when the cancer cell is the minority](https://onco.cc/terms/lymphoma-bio-hodgkin-microenvironment/), [What it costs to aim at a lineage antigen](https://onco.cc/terms/lymphoma-bio-lineage-antigen-cost/)
- targets: [CD30](https://onco.cc/targets/cd30/)

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