Wen Chen, Zhihong Zhang

Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Zhihong Zhang, Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, No. 300, Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, People’s Republic of China, Email zhangzhih2001@aliyun.com

Abstract: Brentuximab vedotin (BV) is an antibody-drug conjugate that combines the CD30 monoclonal antibody with the microtubule-disrupting agent, monomethyl auristatin E, which induces apoptosis in the tumor cell upon its release from the conjugate. The safety and efficacy of BV have been assessed in several studies in patients with T- and B-cell lymphomas. This article reviews the currently available data on the distribution of CD30 expression in T- and B-cell lymphomas, as well as the various levels of CD30 positivity cutoff used in the literature. It also analyzes the relationship between CD30 expression levels and the clinical response to BV in clinical trials for both T- and B-cell lymphomas and investigates BV efficacy in patients with low or undetectable levels of CD30 and examines potential mechanisms by which BV exerts its effect on these patients. This review contributes to the growing evidence suggesting that CD30 expression levels do not predict the clinical benefit of BV as the drug demonstrated substantial efficacy in patients across a wide range of CD30 expression levels while suggesting that the antitumor activity was not associated with CD30 expression levels. Furthermore, the potential of BV as a targeted approach along with its mechanism of action is also summarized to explain its key role in the future treatments of lymphomas, especially for CD30-expressing lymphomas.

Keywords: Brentuximab vedotin, CD30 expression, non-Hodgkin lymphomas, T-cell lymphoma, B-cell lymphoma