Lymphoma Research Foundation Press Room:

Novel Tumor Suppressor Discovered  

Finding could lead to new therapies for blood cancers

La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology researchers studying an enzyme initially believed to play a role in allergy onset, instead have discovered its previously unknown role as a tumor suppressor. The findings may be important to the study of myeloproliferative diseases and some types of lymphoma and leukemia.

The research team, led by Toshiaki Kawakami, MD, PhD, was studying PLC-beta 3, an enzyme believed to play a role in the development of allergies. To study the enzyme's role in asthma and other allergic diseases, the investigators worked with mice engineered to be PLC-beta 3 deficient. But they quickly recognized that the mice were developing severe myeloproliferative diseases. Why? PLC-beta 3 blocks the protein STAT5's activity. Without PLC-beta 3, STAT5 becomes overactive, eventually promoting development of tumor cells. This fortuitous discovery has opened a promising new path for researchers pursuing blood cancer therapeutics. To read more on this story go to:

http://www.liai.org/pages/news-releases_aug_03_2009

La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (2009, August 3), La Jolla Institutes Discovers Novel tumor Suppressor