For Immediate Use Aug. 30, 1999
Kim Irwin, ([email protected]), (310) 206-2805
Kambra McConnel, ([email protected]), (310) 206-3769
RESEARCHERS AT UCLA'S JONSSON CANCER CENTER IDENTIFY
GENE THAT MAY BE LINKED TO AIDS-RELATED LYMPHOMAS
Scientists at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center, working to define the genetic profile of AIDS-related lymphomas, have identified a gene they believe may be linked to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in AIDS patients.
The gene, called T-cell leukemia 1 (TCL1), also is found in older people who develop a type of cancer called lymphocytic leukemia, said Dr. Michael Teitell, a physician and researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and the lead author of a journal article outlining the discovery. The article appears in the most recent issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and can be accessed on their website at http://www.pnas.org.
Teitell and Randolph Wall, a member of UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and the Molecular Biology Institute at UCLA, worked together on the research and will continue to investigate how certain cells become malignant.
The discovery outlined in the journal article and further research regarding the TCL1 gene could lead to the development of a drug designed to stop or interrupt the cell's protective mechanism, Teitell said. Such a drug, when developed, would be known as a targeted therapy - directed at what's broken in a cancer cell. Targeted therapies differ from treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation, which act as non-specific bombs that kill healthy as well as diseased cells. In most cases, targeted therapies affect only diseased cells.
The research by Teitell and Wall also could have ramifications for other types of lymphomas not limited to the HIV population.
Teitell and Wall believe TCL1 may play a key role in the development of AIDS-related non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which strikes about 10 percent of those infected with HIV. They believe the gene may promote tumor formation by protecting cells from the process of programmed death, thereby allowing them to survive longer and accumulate tumor-promoting mutations that lead to malignancy. Teitell and Wall will continue studying this gene and its role in the development of lymphomas.
"We have broken new ground here, not only in the results of the research, but also in the mechanism of collaboration," Teitell said. "This model could serve as a guide for other investigators running large, ambitious projects in gene discovery and basic mechanisms of disease."
The research is the result of a public-private partnership between the Jonsson Cancer Center and the biotechnology firm Amgen Inc., Teitell said, and is part of the UC BioSTAR project, a matching grant program that links University of California scientists and state businesses involved biotechnology research.
The BioSTAR project seeks to promote research into critical scientific and engineering problems, and speed the delivery of solutions to meet California's needs in health, agriculture, environment and the state economy. It's designed to benefit the UC system by increasing private sector investments in research.
Teitell, Wall and their colleagues at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center conducted this research using Amgen's advanced gene identification capabilities, allowing their work to be done more quickly than expected. They were able to determine that the TCL1 gene was expressed in a large majority of AIDS-related lymphomas, suggesting that it also could potentially be the cause of AIDS-related non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as it is for T-cell lymphocytic leukemia, most often found in elderly patients.
The discovery was the result of about 18 months of research, Teitell said. As part of their gene profiling - discovering how genes function normally and abnormally - Teitell, Wall and their colleagues have identified nearly 200 genes that are over- or under-expressed and may be potential targets for new drugs
"We need to determine how these genes normally function and how they function abnormally. We need to profile how they go malignant," Teitell said. "And we need to determine which of these genes are good targets for therapeutics."
This research is still in the early stages and it could be years before any new drugs are developed, Teitell said. However, he's optimistic about the gene profiling methodology that resulted in the identification of TCL1 and its link to lymphomas. The journal article also outlines the methods used in gene profiling.
"This is how you find the targets to focus drugs on later," he said.
Collaborating with Teitell and Wall was Amgen's Michael A. Damore, formerly a member of the UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center.
-UCLA-
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