Research Projects - Tumor Microenvironment

• Researchers: Peiman Hematti
• Description: Immunosuppressive Effects of Tumor microenvironment in B-cell Lymphomas
• Summary: Recent data has demonstrated that the tumor microenvironment plays a significant role in clinical behavior of different types of malignancies. This concept has been most extensively studied in the context of multiple myeloma. Indeed, studying the interactions between malignant plasma cells and bone marrow (BM) mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) has provided the rationale for development of many novel drugs that have revolutionized the way we treat multiple myeloma patients.

However, only very recently studies have started to investigate the role of MSCs in pathogenesis of lymphoid malignancies. We hypothesize that MSCs present in the tumor microenvironment not only support growth of lymphoma cells but also play a significant role in modulating the host immune response against lymphoma cells. Specifically, we propose a novel hypothesis that MSCs play a role in averting phagocytosis and destruction of malignant lymphoma cells by macrophages.

Thus, we plan to investigate if the BM-MSCs provide an environment more permissive for growth of malignant lymphoid cells in patients with low grade lymphoid malignancies who have BM involvement compared to patients whose BM is free of disease. We plan to study the immunomodulatory effects of MSCs isolated/cultured from patients with lymphoid malignancies with and without BM involvement on macrophages isolated from these samples in comparison to MSCs isolated from normal people.

We propose that studying interactions between malignant lymphoid cells and their microenvironment could provide a basis for the rational development of alternative therapeutic strategies aimed at interfering with the supportive role of tumor stromal cells.

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