The CD 30 gene is located at on chromosome one at 1p36. It appears to be a lymphoid activation gene and is part of the nerve growth factor/TNF superfamily. The protein product is a 120 kDa transmembrane glycoprotein8. Its ligand, CD30L, has homology to TNF.
Ber-H2 identifies an epitope which survives routine fixation and processing9. The antigen is masked by prolonged fixation and efficient antigen retrieval is required8. Mercury-based fixatives such as B5 impair immunoreactivity.
Immunohistochemical expression
The Ki-1 antibody recognises both an intracellular protein and a transmembrane glycoprotein, which are apparently unrelated. Reaction with the former may account for some positivity with Ki-1 which cannot be reproduced using Ber-H2. The transmembrane glycoprotein is often referred to as the true CD 30 antigen.
Some of the immunoreactivity in non-lymphoid tissues listed below is weak and non-reproducible and disappears when antigen retrieval is by heating rather than enzymatic digestion1. Various patterns of staining are seen; dot-like paranuclear staining of the Golgi apparatus and membrane staining are restricted to lymphoid cells and embryonal carcinoma, while diffuse staining is seen in a variety of other malignant neoplasms8.
Activated T and B lymphocytes
Epstein-Barr transformed B lymphocytes
T lymphotrophic virus-infected T lymphocytes
scattered large T and B lymphocytes around normal and reactive lymphoid follicles
plasma cells
cultivated monocytes are immunoreactive with Ki-1 but not Ber-H21.
macrophages in granulomatous infections such as TB, sarcoid, cat scratch disease and toxoplasmosis
exocrine pancreatic cells
cerebral cortical neurones
Purkinje cells
decidual cells: although marked expression was initially reported3, a later study showed faint reactivity of decidual cells was seen in 1/10 cases, with single CD30+ lymphoid cells in 10/10 cases1.
lipoblasts4
myoepithelial cells5
Reed-Sternberg cells; about 98% of cases of classical Hodgkin's disease (i.e. excluding lymphocyte predominant HD)8. Staining is membranous with a paranuclear focus which is identified with the Golgi apparatus.
anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) of T, B and null cell lineage.
other non-Hodgkin's lymphomas including:
30% of non-anaplastic peripheral T cell lymphomas7 (including mycosis fungoides, Angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy-like, Lennert's and HTLV-1+ T cell lymphoma).
15-20% of non-anaplastic B cell lymphomas7.
frequently positive in pleural effusion lymphomas associated with KSHV/HHV-87.
lymphomatoid papulosis and regressing atypical histiocytosis
occasional plasmacytomas / myelomas
there have been reports of positivity in true histiocytic malignancies but none of the cases studied by Durkop et al were immunoreactive1.
germ cell tumours
17/18 pure embryonal carcinomas1
the embryonal carcinomatous component of 31/32 mixed germ cell tumours1
0/27 testicular germ cell tumours which lacked an embryonal carcinomatous component1.
possible in some seminomas, but the CD30+ cells may be blastic lymphoid cells1.
occasionally diffuse staining is seen in:
pancreatic carcinoma8
rarely in leiomyoma, leiomyosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma, liposarcoma, giant cell tumour of tendon sheath, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, osteogenic sarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, malignant schwannoma, ganglioneuroma and aggressive fibromatosis2.
vascular neoplasms6
mesothelial cell and mesotheliomas
benign mesothelial cells in 10/17 pleural effusions1
benign mesothelial cells in 7/10 peritoneal effusions1
small groups of tumour cells in 2/8 mesotheliomas1
There is relatively little published on its value in differentiating adenocarcinoma from mesothelioma
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adenocarcinoma |
mesothelioma |
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Garcia-Prats 199810 |
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References
4D Sohail et al. Ber-H2 staining in lipoblasts. Histopathology 1990;18:409-413.
7Christie Problems in Tumour Patholgy, 7.6.2002.
©SMUHT/PW Bishop