Grant: Project Grant

Burkitt lymphoma is a blood cancer, which manifests itself as masses of tissue in the neck or jaw, often disfiguring the patients. This disease occurs very frequently in children and is treated by surgical removal of the tumor masses, followed by chemotherapy, which leads to serious side effects that are very difficult to bear especially for children. Burkitt's lymphoma is composed of B lymphocytes that are normally responsible for producing antibodies to defend against infections. In the case of Burkitt's lymphoma, these B cells carry genetic aberrations and divide rapidly, resulting in the formation of tumor masses. Little is known about the origin of these genetic aberrations, but in the course of our research, we noticed that the gene for a particular enzyme called DDX3X is altered in the B-cells of Burkitt's lymphoma patients, and the literature shows that other laboratories have also found mutations in the DDX3X gene in up to 30% of patients. These mutations render the DDX3X enzyme inactive and it is possible that this is one of the factors that may initiate the development of lymphoma. The goal is to investigate the role of the DDX3X enzyme in human B lymphocytes to understand how its absence can lead to malignant transformation and tumor growth. We anticipate that clarifying the role of DDX3X in Burkitt's lymphoma could help develop new treatments, make currently used therapies more effective and minimize the burden of side effects.