BCI researchers awarded Cancer Research-UK grant for new high tech gene projects.

Project tile: Molecular basis of transformation of follicular lymphoma to aggressive diffuse large B cell lymphoma The study, which is one of just 9 funded projects across all cancers, will be completed over the next year by Dr Jude Fitzgibbon and Dr Silvia Montoto in the Centre for Haemato-Oncology and Dr Claude Chelala in the Centre for Molecular Oncology.

Follicular lymphoma is an incurable indolent B cell malignancy representing 25% of all Non-Hodgkin¹s Lymphomas. Although the median overall survival is 10-12 years, transformation to aggressive lymphoma occurs in 30% of patients and has a particularly poor outcome, with a survival of less than 18 months. This is the critical clinical event in the course of a patient¹s disease and there is no single or group of genetic lesions identified that can account for this shift to aggressive lymphoma. Cancer Research UK, as part of their Genomics Sequencing Initiative, are funding a whole genome analysis of follicular and transformation biopsies from 6 patients to identify the mutational changes associated with this poor outcome group.