Understanding how Adult T-cell lymphoma develops
In this project, Dr Maertens wants to understand how a virus can cause a rare type of lymphoma.
The challenge
Adult T-cell lymphoma (ATL) is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is caused by a virus. Unfortunately, for this type of lymphoma, there are currently few treatments available.
The project
It’s thought that when the virus that causes this type of lymphoma enters our body, it manages to become part of a blood cell and disrupts how it normally works. It’s thought it turns on parts of the cell that are usually involved in stopping cancer developing, and Dr Goedele Maertens and her team want to know more about how this happens.
Only 5% of the people infected with the virus go on to develop this type of lymphoma and so the team also want to understand why some people infected go on to develop the disease and others don’t.
The future
The hope is that by understanding more about how the virus causes lymphoma, the team will be able to identify new targets for treatment which could benefit people with ATL in the future.
What our community think
“As a person affected by blood cancer, this research is of high importance in my opinion. Though the benefits to patients are not likely to be realised for 20 years, there is a great need for the research in to why only about 5% of people infected with this virus develop ATL”.
Patient Voice Grant Advisory Network Member, in remission from Hodgkin lymphoma