This week we profile a recent publication in Nature Communications from the laboratory of
Dr. Ryan Morin (third from left) at Simon Fraser University.
Can you provide a brief overview of your lab’s current research focus?
The Morin laboratory uses genome sequencing and gene expression analysis to identify and characterize the somatic drivers of aggressive lymphomas and to identify biomarkers of treatment resistance.
What is the significance of the findings in this publication?
This particular study has two main findings that are each significant for different reasons. The first one is our description of recurrent mutations in the 3’UTR of the NFKBIZ gene. These represent a novel mechanism of inducing expression of an oncogene in lymphoma. The second main finding is our identification of high expression and copy number alterations affecting the FCGR2B gene. Elevated expression of this gene appears to promote treatment resistance in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and this may allow new tests to be developed that can predict which patients are unlikely to respond to the current standard of care.
What are the next steps for this research?
We continue to follow up on both of these findings to better ascertain their mechanism and confirm their effect in model systems.
This research was funded by:
Funding for this study was from the Terry Fox Foundation, Genome Canada, Genome BC, CIHR and I am a Scholar of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.
