Serum Levels of Soluble CD 30 and Their Relationship to Tumour Burden and Prognosis in Patients with Hodgkin's Disease

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between the serum levels of soluble CD 30 (S-sCD 30), the Hodgkin and Reed Sternberg (HRS) cell density and the macroscopic tumour burden in untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD).Materials and methods: In 126 untreated patients with HD diagnosed between 1979–1991, (79 males and 47 females, median age 33 years) S-sCD 30 was measured using frozen serum samples. The number of HRS cells (the HRS cell density) was counted in 10 high-power vision fields. The macroscopic tumour volume was estimated in 70 patients in stages I and II by counting the number of involved sites and scoring them according to size.Results: Soluble CD 30 was detected in the sera of all patients. The levels were significantly higher in patients with high HRS cell density, high macroscopic tumour burden, stages III-IV, B symptoms and bulky disease. Patients with high S-sCD 30 had a significantly poorer DFS (p < 0.05) and survival (p < 0.001). High HRS cell density correlated to large macroscopic tumour burden, stage IV disease and B-symptoms. Patients with the highest HRS cell density had a significantly poorer disease-free survival (DFS) (p < 0.01) and survival (p < 0.01). In a multivariate analysis, S-sCD 30 was more important as regards prognosis than HRS cell density.Conclusions: Serum levels of sCD 30 are probably a measurement of tumour burden in HD and are also strongly related to the prognosis. A high number of HRS cells correlated to an extensive spread HD and also to prognosis.