Lund University Research Team Finds Diagnostic Marker for Blood Cancer

Mantle cell lymphoma, MCL, is an aggressive form of blood cancer that most commonly afflicts older men. Accurate and early diagnosis is crucial to select an optimal treatment and to increase the chances for survival. A research team at Lund University has now found a novel way to diagnose MCL.

The novel approach that will be tested in the routine diagnosis of lymphoma in the Department of Pathology is based on a new biomarker, i.e., a factor that is specific for a certain disease. The discovery is a result of research within CREATE Health, a Center for Translational Cancer Research supported by the Foundation for Strategic Research and the Wallenberg Foundation.

CREATE Health has integrated investigators from the faculties of medicine, engineering, and natural sciences together with clinical oncologists from the university hospital. The overall aim is to identify proteins and genes that can be used as biomarkers for cancer, using emerging advanced technologies. Several very promising projects are under development, but the novel diagnostic approach for MCL has advanced the furthest. Scientist Sara Ek and colleagues have by studying more than 50,000 gene fragments found those that are specifically overexpressed in this disease. She has also identified the corresponding proteins and it is one of these proteins, Sox11, which serves as a specific biomarker.

For further information please contact:

Sara Ek,

Scientist

Tel: +46 462 22 38 24

Email: Sara.Ek@immun.lth.se