CANCER FROM WITHIN: immune cells reveal insights into mechanisms of DNA recombination and tumorigenesis.
Lymphocytes are unique cell types of our adaptive immune system that require multiple rounds of cell divisions during their development and, most strikingly, multiple rounds of gene rearrangements during the formation of their antigen receptors. This stepwise process puts their genome integrity in danger. Quoting the hemato-oncologist Louis Staudt “normal lymphocyte differentiation is, in some sense, a disaster waiting to happen”. Indeed, lymphoma and leukemia are amongst the most common human neoplastic disorders.
Our major goal is to understand the mechanisms by which a lymphoid cell maintains the integrity of its DNA and prevents genomic instability and transformation. More precisely, we study the DNA recombination processes that are part of B- and T-cell development and the mechanisms and pathways that lead to lymphoid cancers.