Grant: Operating Grant - PA: Alberta Cancer Foundation - Research (bridge funding)

Lymphomas and the need for new treatments: Lymphomas are a type of blood cell cancer that accounts for ~3.0% of total new cancer cases. Although the treatment of lymphomas has remarkably improved in the last 50 years, most lymphomas are still incurable and all the existing treatments have considerable side effects including mouth sores, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, increased risk of bleeding and developing infections. Therefore new strategies for the chemotherapeutic treatment of lymphomas with lesser side effects are needed. Myristoylation and Lymphoma: In cells two enzymes named N-myristoyl transferase (NMT) transfer a type of fat named myrisate onto proteins. Once myristoylated, proteins typically relocalize to the various membranes, one of which is the plasma membrane. Once there, the myristoylated proteins participate in the regulation of growth signals. While studying the role of myristoylation in lymphoma, we discovered that cancerous B lymphoma cells express only one type of NMT in comparison to "normal" B cells, which expressed two NMTs, like all other cells. We found that this makes lymphoma cells (which have only 1 NMT) more vulnerable to a drug that inhibits NMT and causes them to die while it leaves normal cells intact (because they have two NMTs). Using this principle, we are developing a new chemotherapeutic approach that will kill cancerous lymphoma cells while hopefully sparing normal cells and minimize side effects. In addition, our studies will also shed new lights on NMTs as novel regulators of a process named programmed cell death, which is often altered in cancer cells. From novelty to significance: Our novel approach could treat several types of B cell lymphomas with minimized side effects. As such our studies will deliver several tangible benefits to patients and society: from alleviating patient pain and suffering with a potential treatment for lymphoma to providing savings to the healthcare system.