The genes TEL2 and MYC cooperate with each other to promote pediatric cases of the immune system cancer B-cell lymphoma. This finding, from investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is published in the current issue of Molecular Cell Biology (MCB). B-cell lymphoma is a cancer in which the antibody-producing cells (B lymphocytes) multiply uncontrollably and crowd out other blood cells. The St. Jude researchers report that TEL2 cooperates with MYC to increase the chance that a certain mutation will occur in precancerous B lymphocytes, permitting these cells to become cancerous. This mutation inactivates the function of p53, a gene that orchestrates the ability of abnormal lymphocytes to commit suicide--ridding the body of potentially cancerous cells.
