Interesting research this week from the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. An article describes research that may have found some biomarkers in patients with Stage 1 and 2 Follicular Lymphoma.
A little background. More than half of FL patients are diagnosed with stage 3 or 4 disease. Stage 1 and 2 certainly happen, but less often than advanced disease. Stage 1 in particular is located in on place, meaning it is easier to treat with traditional radiation. Some FL patients who receive radiation don't need further treatment, and some will eventually relapse.
The article is called "Proteomic Profiling of Limited-Stage Follicular Lymphoma Reveals Differentially Expressed Proteins Linked to Disease Progression Post-Radiation Therapy." It looks at a fairly small number of patients -- just 26 -- with stage 1 or stage 2 FL, who were treated with radiation. Nine of those patients experienced progression of disease, while the other 17 did not. With two groups to compare, the researchers used "high-throughput mass spectrometry-based proteomics" to examine biopsies from the 26 patients. Basiclaly, this is a method that helps researchers separate out and identify the different substances in a sample like a biopsy.
The process found a total of 1940 different proteins in the biopsy samples, with 78 of them showing up differently in the two groups. Researchers already know what function many of these proteins serve in the body. They may be part of the path of proteins and enzymes and genes that make a cell grow and keep it from dying when it is supposed to, resulting in cancer. Perhaps not surprisingly, the researchers found that proteins that do these things were not as present in the samples from the patients whose disease did not progress.
They found two particular proteins, CASP4 and CASP8, that seemed to correlate with shorter Progression-Free Survival. They point to other research that found the same proteins in advanced stage (stage 3 and 4) FL patients.
They hope that further research will show that CASP4 and CASP8 are reliable biomarkers for predicting disease progression in FL. That will take some time to test out, but it would allow doctors to potentially recommend more effective treatments to individual patients.
This is a small study (26 patients) involving a limited population (FL patients with stage 1 or 2 disease that have received radiation), but it has larger implications. It's another attempt to identify biomarkers to help guide doctors and predict how a disease might behave. Identifying biomarkers seems to be more and more of a priority for the Lymphoma community lately -- they were brought up by Dr. Smith in the FLF's midyear report, and are important to the identification of potential FL subtypes, to give a couple of recent examples. It might not be that the community is paying more attention to it. It could be that there has been more success lately, and that's why we're seeing more about it.
Whatever the case, it's a cause for hope.
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I want to make a quick mention of a Follicular Lymphoma-related event happening in November.
I know many of you are part of the Living with Follicular Lymphoma group on Facebook. It's a good group to be a part of, and I check in every day. It has almost 15,000 members from around the world.
On November 11, they will be celebrating their 10th anniversary with a big party in London, sponsored by the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation. And everyone is invited.
There is currently a poll being conducted in the Facebook group asking if people might be able to attend. If you are in the UK or nearby, or are just looking for an excuse to go to London, join the group and let them know so they have an idea of how big a party this will be.
Unfortunately, I cannot make it -- a tough time of year for me to travel. But if it had been at another time, I would have bought my plane ticket.
I can't tell you how incredibly valuable this experience is going to be for the people who are able to go. It is so very rare that we get to meet with people who have had the same experience with FL as we have had. There is something so uplifting about talking to someone who can smile and say "I know exactly how you feel!" and you know that they really do. If it's at all possible for you to be there in London, then try to be there. It will be a life-changing experience for you.
Take care, everyone.
1 comment:
It is very encouraging to read this about the pursuit of more biomarkers that can lead to more concise treatment plans.
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