The anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody SGN-30 promotes growth arrest and DNA fragmentation in vitro and affects antitumor activity in models of Hodgkin's disease.

The leukocyte activation marker CD30 is highly expressed on the Reed Sternberg cells of Hodgkin's disease (HD). On normal tissues, CD30 has a restricted expression profile limited to activated T cells, activated B cells, and activated natural killer cells. This expression profile makes CD30 an ideal target for monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based therapies of Hodgkin's disease. CD30 mAbs have been shown to be effective in in vitro and in vivo models of hematologic malignancies such as anaplastic large cell lymphoma, yet these mAb have not been efficacious in HD models. We have found that a mAb against CD30, AC10, was able to inhibit the growth of HD cell lines in vitro. To generate a more clinically relevant molecule, the variable regions from AC10 were cloned into an expression construct containing the human gamma1 heavy chain and kappa light chain constant regions. The resulting chimeric antibody, designated SGN-30, retained the binding and in vitro growth-inhibitory activities of the parental antibody. Treatment of HD cell lines with SGN-30 in vitro resulted in growth arrest in the G(1) phase of the cell cycle and DNA fragmentation consistent with apoptosis in the HD line L540cy. Severe combined immunodeficient mouse xenograft models of disseminated HD treated with SGN-30 produced significant increases in survival. Similarly, xenograft models of localized HD demonstrated dose-dependent reduction in tumor mass in response to SGN-30 therapy. SGN-30 is being developed for the treatment of patients who have HD that is refractory to initial treatment or who have relapsed and have limited therapeutic options.