Very high levels of soluble CD30 recognize the patients with classical Hodgkin's lymphoma retaining a very poor prognosis

: Objectives: To evaluate the prognostic role of pretreatment serum levels of soluble CD30 (sCD30) in patients with advanced stage classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL) treated with adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine or equivalent regimens. Methods: We identified 321 previously untreated patients with cHL who presented to the participating centers between 1985 and 2002, and had serum samples available for the determination of sCD30 levels. Results: With a median follow‐up of 72 months, the actuarial 5‐year overall survival was 82%, and failure‐free survival (FFS) was 71%. The median serum level of sCD30 was 65 U/mL (range: 1–2230), and was significantly higher (P