Lymphoma treatment targets multiple diseases

The search for new therapies to treat a rare type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma has had an unexpected success – identifying a potential molecular target to treat other related forms of lymphoma as well.

Dr Christy Ying focusses her research on finding a new Lymphoma treatment at Hudson Institute.
Dr Christy Ying

Professor Richard Ferrero, Dr Le (Christy) Ying and an international team focussed on finding new treatment options for a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma that develops in the stomach and is linked to infection by the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori.

They developed a pre-clinical model to study the development of stomach lymphoma associated with H. pylori infection, with their findings now being published in The Journal of Pathology.

Other lymphoma treatment targets

“We believe this treatment may also be used for other related lymphomas that develop outside of the lymphatic system and for which the causes are unknown,” said Professor Ferrero.

“Using an antibody to block a key communication node between blood cells known as B and T cells, we showed that we could prevent the development of the precursor lesions leading to stomach lymphoma,” Dr Ying added.

“But while it was known that interactions between B and T cells are important for the development of stomach lymphoma in humans, we were the first to show in a pre-clinical model that drugs blocking these interactions may be used to treat this cancer,” she said.

Image is of a tissue section from our pre-clinical model in which precancerous lesions of stomach lymphoma are seen to be predominantly composed of B cells (green) and surrounded by different types of immune cells (red, yellow). Image provided by Dr Ying.
Tissue section from a pre-clinical model in which precancerous lesions of stomach lymphoma are seen to be predominantly composed of B cells (green) and surrounded by different types of immune cells (red, yellow).

Collaborators | Monash University; University of Toronto, Canada; Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., Massachusetts, USA; National Cancer Centre Singapore; Singapore General Hospital; SingHealth Duke-NUS Blood Cancer Centre, Singapore; Genome Institute of Singapore.

Funders | US Department of Defense; National Health and Medical Research Council; Tour de Cure; The Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council; Tanoto Foundation; The Ling Foundation.

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