In a phase 2 study of 35 patients with CD30+ relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma who received brentuximab vedotin, there was no apparent correlation between response and tumour CD30 expression; 9 of 14 patients (64%) had responses with little (⩽15%) or no CD30 expression by central review of immunohistochemistry (Horwitz et al, 2014). Here, TNFRSF8 is linked to neoplasm.