Targeting the follicular lymphoma microenvironment - Ready for mime-time?

摘要

Despite recent advances in the management of follicular lymphoma (FL), this disease is still characterised by tremendous heterogeneity in outcomes. While some individuals enjoy prolonged survival, others experience rapid disease progression or early transformation to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Previous speculation has attributed much of this clinical variability to differences in genetic lesions associated with FL; although the hallmark t(14;18) translocation is found in the majority of presentations, most FL cases demonstrate additional karyotypic abnormalities. More recent evidence, however, suggests that an exclusively genetic model to explain FL development may be inadequate. Current research supports a major role for the surrounding population of non-malignant immune regulatory cells - the microenvironment - in dictating pathogenesis and behaviour#