DNA mutations are essential to the rapid development of an array of antibody-producing immune cells called B cells that collectively can recognize a vast number of specific targets. But this process can go awry in people with a mutation in a gene called SETD2, leading to a type of aggressive blood cancer, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.
The study, published April 20 in Cancer Discovery, found that having a mutation in one of the two copies of SETD2 in B cells can lead to a proliferation of cells that don’t readily repair their mutated DNA, causing an aggressive type of cancer called diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
