Developing new targeted treatments for B-cell lymphomas

B-cell lymphomas such as diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL) are blood cancers that start in a type of immune cell called B-cells. These B-cells help protect us from disease by making antibodies. Antibodies are special proteins made by our immune system that seek out and destroy bacteria and viruses. But sometimes things go wrong and these B-cells start growing out of control, causing cancer. On the surface of B-cells, there's a special structure called the B-cell receptor. This B-cell receptor is like an antenna that helps B-cells do their job. In lymphoma, this receptor plays a big role in helping the cancer cells grow and survive. Scientists have created drugs, like Ibrutinib, that try to stop the B-cell receptors from working. These drugs can kill some types of cancer cells and are used to treat certain B-cell lymphomas. However they do not work as well on all B-cell lymphomas, and can cause side effects.

Professor Pavel Tolar and his team are researching how B-cell receptors influence lymphomas. There are two main types of B-cell receptors, IgM and IgG. In their previous research, Professor Tolar and his team found that the type of B-cell receptor influences lymphomas, with the IgG receptors helping to slow down lymphoma growth. They have found that some IgG receptors have alterations that can cause cancer to form. In this current project they want to expand on this research to learn exactly how these B-cell receptors influence lymphomas. They plan to conduct experiments to understand more about the altered IgG receptors, to help in the development of more targeted treatments.

If successful, this could lead to new targeted treatments that specifically target these B-cell receptors. These new treatments are likely to be less harmful with fewer side-effects, and more targeted than current treatments, giving people with these types of blood cancers a better quality of life and greater chance of survival.