BC and BU Awarded Program Project Grant to Study White Blood Cells Involved in Leukemia

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 14 May 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Professor Thomas Chiles of the Biology Department, and colleagues at Boston University Medical Center, have been awarded a five-year, multimillion-dollar program project grant from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Their research will focus on understanding the growth and differentiation of a small subset of white blood cells called B-1a lymphocytes (B-1a cells). B-1a cells, which are found in the peritoneal cavity, and B-2 cells, which are located in the spleen and lymph nodes, help destroy pathogens that enter the body, and then help the body acquire immunity against those particular pathogens, protecting the body from future invasion. However, an over-production of B-1a cells can lead to autoimmune diseases and leukemias.

Thomas Chiles's group at Boston College, working with Dr. Thomas Rothstein of Boston University's Department of Medicine, previously demonstrated that the rules that govern cell cycle control and differentiation to immunoglobulin-secreting plasma cells are different in B-1a cells than in B-2 cells.

As part of the new NIH-funded program project, research carried out at Boston College will seek to better understand the molecular mechanisms that control when B-1a cells enter the cell cycle and proliferate. Insights from these studies will help us understand the molecular basis of several human lymphoproliferative disorders associated with B-1a cells, including a form of cancer called chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which involves overproduction of white blood cells by the bone marrow, is the most common type of leukemia in adults.

To learn more about research going on in the Chiles Laboratory, please visit:
http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/biology/facadmin/chiles/

BY JOHN P. ROCHE

Maintained: Biology Department
URL: http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/biology/news/chiles/
© 2004 The Trustees of Boston College