Molecular pathology of lymphoid neoplasms
Understanding the mechanisms that cause disease, particularly cancer, is the gateway to improving its diagnosis and establishing the most appropriate treatment for each patient
Current research
Problem
The group is striving to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the development and progression of lymphoid neoplasms, a group of extremely heterogeneous cancers that are relatively common and affect the blood, lymph nodes and other organs in the form of leukaemia or lymphomas.
Its aim is to discover the mechanisms that transform lymphoid cells, in order to improve the diagnosis of these tumours, predict their evolution and identify the most effective treatments.
Approach
To understand the complexity of lymphoid neoplasms, the group approaches them from a multidisciplinary angle, using advanced microscopy, DNA and RNA sequencing with next-generation technologies, biochips and bioinformatics studies.
These studies use tissues and cells that the patients themselves have donated to research. The group also uses animal models and cell cultures that reproduce, in the laboratory, the diseases to be studied.
All the experimental data it obtains are combined with clinical observations of patients, and it uses its results to design trials and models suitable for clinical practice.
Impact
The group has identified and described several lymphoid neoplasms about which very little is known. It has defined the way in which two oncogenes ,which are involved in the development of mantle cell lymphoma (cyclin D1 and SOX11) function, and has described the whole genome sequence and epigenomic alterations in chronic lymphatic leukaemia and mantle cell lymphoma.
It has also designed trials to improve the diagnosis of diverse lymphomas in clinical practice and has identified new mechanisms that could be used as targets for treatment.
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