The role of CD30, CD40 and CD95 in the regulation of proliferation and apoptosis in classical Hodgkin's lymphoma

AIMS: CD30, CD40 and CD95 are members of the tumour necrosis factor receptor superfamily. Ligation to their respective ligands (CD30L, CD40L, CD95L) will generate a diverse set of signalling cascades. We aim to study the expression pattern of CD30, CD40 and CD95 in classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL) and to correlate the expressions with proliferation and apoptosis in the Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg (H/RS) cells of cHL with or without associated Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection.

METHODS: A total of 66 cHL cases were retrieved from the archives. Expressions of CD30, CD40, CD95 and proliferation by Ki-67 expression were detected with an immunohistochemical staining method. Apoptosis index was assessed by in situ TUNEL staining technique on 30 randomly selected cases and the presence of EBV was determined by EBER in situ hybridisation.

RESULTS: Expression of CD30, CD40 and CD95 in the H/RS cells was observed in a high proportion of the cases (100, 93.9, 90.5%, respectively). There was no significant association or correlation of the expression of these molecules with the presence of EBV. Expression of CD40 was associated with expression of the proliferation marker Ki-67 (P=0.044), whereas strong (intermediate and high) expression of CD30 showed a significant correlation with proliferation in the EBV-negative cases only (P=0.025). No correlation was observed for the expression of CD30 and CD40 with apoptosis of the H/RS cells. The childhood cases showed weaker CD95 expression in the H/RS cells than the adult cases, and the expression of CD95 was weaker than that of CD40 in the childhood group.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that CD30, CD40 and CD95 are highly expressed in the H/RS cells of the majority of cases of cHL. The expression patterns seem to be independent of EBV and do not correlate with apoptosis of the H/RS cells.