Integrated analysis of CD30 detection methodologies and synergistic drug combinations for optimizing brentuximab vedotin therapy in lymphoma

Brentuximab vedotin (BV), a CD30-targeted antibody-drug conjugate, has shown significant efficacy in CD30-positive lymphoma. However, the relationships between CD30 expression levels and BV efficacy remains unclear. In this study, we first evaluated the reliability of CD30 detection by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and found that flow cytometry (FCM) offers higher sensitivity and accuracy in assessing CD30 expression. Therefore, FCM may serve as a more effective method for evaluating CD30 levels. Furthermore, we confirmed a positive correlation between CD30 expression levels and BV efficacy. However, even when BV was applied to tumor cells with 100% CD30 expression, its anti-tumor activity did not reach complete eradication, highlighting the need for synergistic combination therapies. To address this, we conducted high-throughput screening (HTS) and identified auranofin and napabucasin as synergistic agents that enhance the efficacy of BV. These findings not only highlight the advantages of FCM for CD30 detection, but also provide valuable insights into combination strategies to optimize the therapeutic potential of BV.