Researchers uncover novel strategy to treat large B-cell lymphomas

Submitted by Ross Bonander Sun 11/22/2009

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Working independently of one another, two groups of researchers have uncovered a possible strategy involving a protease enzyme known as MALT1 to boost the effectiveness of treatment against diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

MALT1 is a protease enzyme; inside a cell it breaks down proteins. Prior research indicates that MALT1 also helps to "activate a signaling pathway that drives the growth of DLBCL cells called the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway", according to the report in a recent NCI Cancer Bulletin.

When they inhibit MALT1's ability to do its job, researchers have found that they also shut down that signaling pathway, preventing growth and causing the cancerous B-cells to die.

The research teams included one working out of Technical University of Munich, and another out of the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research and Switzerland's University of Lausanne.

By Ross Bonander

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