December 18, 2003
Dana-Farber receives grant to help find cure for mantle cell lymphoma
G. Shapiro, MD, PhD
The Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) has awarded Dana-Farber a $315,000 grant to help find a cure for mantle cell lymphoma, one of the rarer forms of the disease. The grant was one of 18 provided by the foundation, which has recently agreed to contribute $12.8 million in funding to researchers worldwide working in this area.
"Mantle cell lymphoma is a very aggressive form of the disease and prognosis for patients has been very poor," said Joseph Bertino, MD, chair of the LRF Scientific Advisory Board. "But new and experimental therapies now being investigated for mantle cell lymphoma make this the right time to invest research funds. Our goal is to develop new and improved, less toxic therapies to enhance survival rates and ultimately find a cure."
Geoffrey Shapiro, MD, PhD, who will lead Dana-Farber's efforts in this project, plans to investigate drugs that inhibit cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), both alone and in combination with chemotherapy, to determine their activity in mantle cell lymphoma. Since mantle cell lymphoma is defined by a genetic change that increases expression of a protein that stimulates CDKs and then drives cellular proliferation (causing the cancer to grow and divide without control), Dr. Shapiro's work could be critical to helping find a cure for this disease.
"CDK inhibitors represent a novel class of anticancer drugs that directly target the molecular defects in mantle cell lymphoma cells," said Shapiro. "Recent studies show that the first of these drugs, flavopiridol, produced responses in mantle cell lymphoma patients. New generations of CDK inhibitors have increased potency, relatively few side effects and work together with standard chemotherapy."
Mantle cell lymphoma is a relatively uncommon B-cell lymphoma which accounts for 5 to 7 percent of all adult non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cases in the U.S. It is a malignancy of cells located in the mantle zone of the lymph node, a thin area surrounding individual follicles. Mantle cell lymphoma predominately affects older males.
The Lymphoma Research Foundation is the nation's largest lymphoma-focused voluntary health organization devoted exclusively to funding research to cure all lymphomas and providing patients and healthcare professionals with critical information on the disease.
