Our results demonstrate that there is differential c-REL protein expression in cHL in comparison with NLPHL and suggest that c-REL may play a role in the pathogenesis of classic Hodgkin lymphoma.
Interestingly, the T cell transcription factor GATA-3 that is aberrantly expressed in HL was induced in most GC-LCLs and the memory B cell marker CD27 was activated in N-LCLs.
These results show a common mechanism of CD30 overexpression in ALCL and HL, although the outcome of CD30 signaling differs between NPM-ALK-positive ALCL and NPM-ALK-negative ALCL, cutaneous ALCL, and HL as we recently reported.
CD30 is a tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) family member whose expression is associated with Hodgkin's disease, anaplastic large cell lymphomas, and other T and B lymphoproliferative disorders in humans.
Some NHL subtypes, which share certain genetic features with HL, such as alterations in chromosome 9p24.1 and expression of PD-L1, have shown promising responses in early phase trials.
CD30 is a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily that is expressed on activated lymphocytes, as well as on neoplastic cells of Hodgkin disease (HD) and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).
Systemic anaplastic large cell lymphomas (sALCLs) comprise a heterogeneous group of relatively rare T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas that are characterized by CD30 expression.
Patients respond well to chemotherapy with cure rates of 80-90% and the recent finding of PD-L1 expression, an immune checkpoint, warrants the use of immunotherapy for some patients with recurrent and/or refractory HL.
CD30 is promising target as it is universally expressed in virtually all classical Hodgkin lymphomas, anaplastic large cell lymphomas, and in a proportion of other lymphoma types, including cutaneous T cell lymphomas and diffuse large B cell lymphomas.
In lymphoma tissues, autotaxin expression was mainly restricted to CD30+ anaplastic large-cell lymphomas and Hodgkin lymphoma; in the latter, high levels of autotaxin were strongly associated with EBV positivity (P = .006).