Research for Resistance Factors in the Treatment of Lymphoid Hemopathy

Overview

In order to promote translational research on the molecular pathways involved in resistance to treatments for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), the clinical haematology department of the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Nantes has established, since 2016, the REFRACT-LyMa (Research on Factors of Resistance to Chemotherapies and Innovative Therapies in Mantle Cell Lymphoma) cohort-biocollection of blood and bone marrow samples from patients with MCL. Thanks to the close collaborations with team 11 of the Integrated Cancer Research and Immunology Center Nantes Angers (CRCI²NA), which specializes in studying the molecular pathways involved in resistance to treatments for hematological cancers, we wish to broaden the scope of research to other B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (B-NHL). That is why today the REFRACT-LyMa cohort-biocollection aims to expand to malignant hematopathies involving mature B cells (Research on Factors of Resistance to Chemotherapies and Innovative Therapies in Mature B-Cell Lymphoid Hemopathies).

A collection of tumor samples collected before the initiation of any new line of treatment as well as after any relapse/progression, is essential to identify the factors of response or resistance to a given therapy. To support the translational research projects on MCL in collaboration with team 11 of CRCI²NA, the clinical hematology department of the CHU of Nantes established, in 2016, the prospective multicentric (five centers: Nantes, La Roche-sur-Yon, Vannes, Saint-Nazaire and Poitiers) cohort-biocollection REFRACT-LyMA (Research on Factors of Resistance to Chemotherapies and Innovative Therapies in Mantle Cell Lymphoma), with the aim of constituting a cohort of patients integrating clinico-biological data linked to a biocollection of blood, bone marrow, lymphadenopathy, pleural fluid and ascites samples. Thanks to primary cells from patients derived from the biocollection, the REFRACT-LyMa cohort has highlighted molecular aberrations and genomic instability of tumor cells leading to the emergence of heterogeneous subclones at the base of the main mechanism of chemoresistance, which can be used as predictive factors of response/sensitivity to treatments in MCL. However, the therapies used in MCL are also applicable to other malignant hematopathies. That is why we wish to expand our cohort-biocollection to the Research on Factors of Resistance to Chemotherapies and Innovative Therapies in Mature B-Cell Lymphoid Hemopathies (REFRACT-LyMa). Although the patients with MCL already included in the cohort "Research on Factors of Resistance to Chemotherapies and Innovative Therapies in Mantle Cell Lymphoma" will continue to be followed retrospectively and new MCL patients will be included prospectively, not all new patients with B-NHL will be automatically included in the new cohort "Research on Factors of Resistance to Chemotherapies and Innovative Therapies in Mature B Lymphoid Hemopathies". The choice will depend on the pathology subject to the ongoing translational research studies.