In a recent development, the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has recently recognized researcher and assistant professor in the UTSA Department of Neurosciences, Developmental and Regenerative Biology Dr. Alexey A. Soshnev for his research in lymphomas, a type of cancer that begins in the lymphatic system. He was awarded CPRIT’s Individual Research Award (IIRA), a competitive $1 million, three-year grant that only 10% of applicants receive.
Soshnev’s project “Understanding the Mechanism of Linker Histone Mutations in Malignancy” mainly focuses on chromatin, a polymer complex composed of DNA and associated proteins. This polymer complex is essential in the role of various stages for cells, such as when dividing, fixing damage and controlling genes. An important component in chromatin is the histones, which are the main proteins in chromatin and aid with the structure of DNA and managing how they function.
Due to this work, “Soshnev and collaborators recently demonstrated that chromosome decompaction can precipitate a chain of events leading to malignant transformation, and over a third of patients diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma carry somatic (i.e. tumor-specific) mutations in genes encoding H1 histones.”
In response to this, Soshnev stated, “Our results show that H1 histones act as tumor suppressors in B-cells. H1 loss drives the stem cell programs in fully differentiated cells, in effect sending them back in time and increasing the potential progress into cancer.” Soshnev continued, “However, a lot of details of how H1 mutations lead to malignancy remain unknown and are something we’d like to learn more about. Beyond H1 mutant lymphomas, our findings will be immediately relevant to an emerging class of malignancies associated with aberrant chromatin decompaction.”
As stated by the National Cancer Institute, more than a million people were living with B-cell lymphoma in the U.S. in 2020, and an estimated 8,570 new cases and 910 deaths have occurred in 2024. Although there are a lot of treatment options at hand and a high five-year relative survival rate of 88.9%, the lymphoma five-year mortality rate still ranges between 10% and 25% for different subtypes. However, with this funding, Soshnev can further his work to uncover crucial insights into the development and progression of lymphomas and potentially make a breakthrough with diagnosis and treatment options.
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