We continue our series in the Biologics campaign – now it is devoted to B-cell lymphoma (BCL) proteins.
Dysregulations in the lifecycle of B-cells, a type of white blood cell, could cause unhealthy conditions, that lead to different lymphomas. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), one example of such disease, is a subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, that is common in adults and characterized by aggressive nature. Recent studies are shown that DLBCL is linked to an abnormal B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling pathway, which contributes to the survival and proliferation of the cancerous B-cells. In addition, different types of B-cell lymphoma repressors such as BCL2, BCL6, and BCL-X, etc., are frequently overexpressed in DLBCL, play a key role in the pathogenesis of the disease and display great potential as a therapeutic target.
You can find more about the current state of DLBCL treatment here.
A new promising drug candidate for DLBCL treatment is OICR12694, a potent and selective BCL6 BTB inhibitor. BCL6 is a key transcriptional repressor that is often overexpressed in DLBCL and contributes to malignant B-cell survival. By inhibiting BCL6, OICR12694 has the potential to induce cell death in lymphoma cells without hitting normal cells. OICR12694 has shown significant anti-tumor activity in preclinical studies, and improved survival in DLBCL animal models. Furthermore, orally available OICR12694 is a promising new approach for DLBCL treatment, and now it is in clinical trials to evaluate its safety and efficacy in patients.
More information about this research is here.
