B Cell Development And Lymphoma
The regulation of B cell terminal differentiation is crucial to the development of a normal immune response. The transcription factor BCL-6 is essential for this process and is also expressed in several types of lymphoma. BCL-6 is involved in chromosomal translocations in 30-40% of diffuse large cell lymphomas and may have an important role in the genesis of this particular disease. BCL-6 is expressed in other tissues and we have recently focused on its role in mammary epithelium and breast cancer.
It is likely that BCL-6’s mechanism of action is to modulate the effects of the STAT family of transcription factors, and we have implicated STAT3 as being particularly important in the normal control of B cell differentiation.
Effect of overexpressing BCL-6 on the growth of a mammary epithelial cell line on extra-cellular matrix
The main projects of the laboratory now are:
-
Finding BCL-6 target genes relevant to the control of differentiation in B cells and mammary epithelium
-
Identifying and analysing cis-acting control regions for BCL-6
-
Utilising a novel systematic approach to identify compunds which disrupt the effects of BCL-6 and which may form lead molecules for drug discovery.
BCL-6 prevents B cell terminal differentiation
