Immunohistochemical evaluation of CON6D/B5: a new CD30 monoclonal antibody.

Immunohistochemical evaluation of CD30 expression is commonly performed in the assessment of hematopoietic disorders and germ cell tumors. A new monoclonal antibody, CON6D/B5, directed against the CD30 antigen has become commercially available for use in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples. The performance characteristics of CON6D/B5 were tested and compared with the well-characterized monoclonal CD30 antibody Ber-H2. Among the various neoplasms analyzed, there was complete concordance between the results of CON6D/B5 and Ber-H2 staining. Similar to Ber-H2, CON6D/B5 immunoreactivity was observed in all cases of classical Hodgkin lymphoma, anaplastic large cell lymphoma, and embryonal carcinoma, with no staining detectable in any of the other various tumors evaluated, including several neoplasms earlier reported as showing CD30 positivity by other investigators. The labeling intensity was much stronger with CON6D/B5 compared with Ber-H2, although no significant differences were observed with regard to the numbers of positively labeled cells in individual cases. The monoclonal antibody CON6D/B5 offers a suitable alternative to Ber-H2 for the immunohistochemical detection of CD30 expression.