Test Identifies Risk of Developing Lymphoma

The immune system is responsible for eliminating potentially cancerous immune B-cells in their early stages, before they developed into B-cell lymphomas, also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

Immune cells undergo spontaneous changes on a daily basis that could lead to cancers if not for the diligent surveillance of the immune system and this immune surveillance accounts for the surprising rarity of B-cell lymphomas in the population, given how often these spontaneous changes occur.

Scientists at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (Melbourne, Australia) discovered that the loss of function of the tumor suppressor gene PR Domain Containing 1, with ZNF Domain (PRDM1), also known as B-Lymphocyte-Induced Maturation Protein (BLIMP1) or deregulated expression of the oncogene B-Cell CLL/Lymphoma 6 (BCL6), occurs in a large proportion of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cases.

Targeted mutation of either gene in a rodent model leads to only slow and infrequent development of malignant lymphoma and despite frequent mutation of BCL6 in activated B- cells of healthy individuals, lymphoma development is rare. More...