Latest Burkitt's lymphoma Stories
New research, presented this morning at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), has identified important associations between Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria and endemic Burkitt Lymphoma (eBL) that may help researchers identify young children who are more susceptible to eBL. Unlike previous studies in which malaria infection alone was considered the important factor, this study approached the evolving complexity and heterogeneity of the humoral immune...
In the first broad genetic landscape mapped of a Burkitt lymphoma tumor, scientists at Duke Medicine and their collaborators identified 70 mutations, including several that had not previously been associated with cancer and a new one that was unique to the disease. Findings from the genetic sequencing of Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive form of lymphoma, could be used to develop new drugs or aim existing therapies at mutations known to be susceptible. The researchers published their...
Germinal centers are sites in the organs of the lymphatic system, formed during the course of an immune response to infection, where B cells intensely proliferate and modify their DNA in order to produce antibodies specific for the pathogen. However, it is known that the vast majority of lymphomas derive from the B cells at the germinal centers. Now, Dr. Dinis Pedro Calado and Dr. Klaus Rajewsky of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have identified subgroups of...
More than 90 percent of humans have antibodies to the Epstein Barr virus. Best known for causing mononucleosis, or "the kissing disease," the virus has also been implicated in more serious conditions, including Hodgkin's, non-Hodgkin's and Burkitt's lymphomas. Yet little is known about exactly how EBV triggers these diseases. Now a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and Penn's Perelman School of Medicine has the first evidence that an...
Although Burkitt’s lymphoma is thankfully fairly rare in the general population, it is the most common form of malignancy in children in Equatorial Africa and is very frequent in immunocompromised persons, such as those suffering from AIDS. It is invariably accompanied by an increase in the expression of a particular gene, the so-called c-myc gene. An increased level of c-myc is not usually enough to cause cancer and most patients also have alterations to another gene. The groups of...
Researchers from the University of Sheffield have discovered valuable insight into how people develop B-cell lymphoma, one of the most common cancers in the UK.The team, from the University's Institute for Cancer Studies and funded by Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Yorkshire Cancer Research, found that a mechanism different to that previously thought to be the cause of lymphoma may be responsible for the development of the...
Burkitt's lymphoma is one of the most aggressive tumors affecting humans. Multiple alterations in genes that regulate cell proliferation rate explain its aggressive behavior.A new study reveals new molecular insight into the understanding and treatment of Burkitt`s lymphoma. The new finding concentrates on a genetic locus -- a piece of DNA with one or more genes which is the specific location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome -- called INK4a/ARF locus. This locus encodes two important...
Important advances in the fight against cancer have come as researchers proved that viruses and cancers interact in ways that were previously unknown to scientists.A new study led by UNC scientists shows that a common cancer drug can activate a viral infection that, paradoxically, can help anti-viral medications eradicate virus-associated cancer.The cooperative study, conducted by a team of UNC School of Medicine scientists and the UNC Project in Malawi, demonstrated for the first time in...
Gene enhancer is responsible for activating cancer-causing genes in B cellsResearchers at the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Immune Disease Institute at Children's Hospital Boston (PCMM/IDI) have found a link between a common mutation that can lead to cancer and a distant gene regulator that enhances its activity. Discovery of this relationship could lead to drugs targeting B-cell lymphomas, including Burkitt's lymphoma, an aggressive cancer in children, as well as...
Targeted immunotherapy has been an attractive new therapeutic area for a number of cancers because it has the potential to destroy tumor cells without damaging surrounding normal tissue. New study results demonstrate high success rates using specialized white blood cells to prevent or treat lymphoma associated with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV-lymphoma) in patients who have received a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). This study was pre-published online today in Blood, the official...
