Ken H. Young, MD, PhD, presented at the 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition on Dec. 10th, 2023, in San Diego, California. He gave a talk titled “Tumor-Infiltrating Normal B Lymphocytes Have Remarkable Prognostic Effects and Are Crucial for Antitumor Immune Responses in Lymphoma,” followed by a Q&A session.
Young provided the Society with a new perspective on lymphoma diagnostic testing and therapeutic intervention, which he hopes will inspire the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
B lymphocytes are traditionally known for antibody-mediated immunity against infection and autoimmune disease. In recent years, role of B cells in antitumor immunity has attracted renewed attention. To distinguish tumor-infiltrating normal B lymphocytes (TIL-Bs) from malignant B cells in lymphoma, Young’s study group performed immunoglobulin gene ultra-deep sequencing and clonotype analysis in a large cohort of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) patients, and analyzed the prognostic and immunological effects of TIL-B abundance and clonotypic diversity in DLBCL.
DLBCL is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in the United States and worldwide It’s aggressive and grows rapidly, affecting B-lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell. DLBCL can develop in our outside of the lymph nodes, in any organ of the body and may occur in one spot or spread throughout the body. Despite being an aggressive lymphoma, DLBCL is thought of as potentially curable.
His study was selected as the cover image of the Clinical Cancer Research issue published on Dec. 1, 2023.