Our non-Hodgkin lymphoma research
Thanks to improved treatments, survival from non-Hodgkin lymphoma has significantly increased over the past thirty years. Now more than 6 out of ten younger patients with this cancer will survive for five years or more.
We provide information aimed at non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients and their carers on our patient information website, CancerHelp UK.
You can find out more about non-Hodgkin lymphoma in our Cancers at a glance section.Understanding the causes
A better understanding of the causes of lymphoma will help us to identify improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.
Professor Jim Neal and his team at the University of Glasgow are working to discover how faulty genes lead to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In particular, they are looking at a gene called RUNX1, which is though to play an important role in certain types of leukaemia and lymphoma. Understanding more about the gene faults that cause lymphoma will lead to new treatments in the future, as well as guiding doctors to select the best treatment for patients.
At the University of Southampton, Professor Freda Stevenson is investigating sugary molecules found on the surface of follicular lymphoma cells. The discovery of these molecules could pave the way for cancer treatments that specifically target them.
There is a strong link between the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and a variety of cancers. These include Burkitt's lymphoma and other types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which can occur in patients with a suppressed immune system, such as transplant patients.
Cancer Research UK-funded scientists Professors Alan Rickinson and Lawrence Young in Birmingham are investigating how EBV can cause these cancers, by studying the genes and molecules that underlie the process. This work may lead to new ways to prevent or treat the disease.
Improving diagnosis
It is important that people with non-Hodgkin lymphoma are diagnosed promptly, so treatment can start as soon as possible. But sometimes there can be delays before patients are treated, which may affect the outcome of their treatment.
Dr Richard Neal at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Wrexham is investigating the best method of measuring these delays, and the reasons behind them. He is comparing a questionnaire that patients fill in themselves with a nurse asking them questions. In the future, the method that Dr Neal develops will be used to see if strategies to reduce these delays are successful.
Improving treatment
A number of Cancer Research UK-funded teams are carrying out clinical trials to test new ways to treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma. For example, Dr Claudius Rudin and his team are testing a new chemotherapy combination for a form of the disease called angioimmunoblastic lymphoma.
Professor David Linch at the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London is running a trial called CORAL, to test new treatments for people with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
A team led by Dr Simon Rule is testing a new combination of drugs to treat a form of the disease called mantle cell lymphoma. And Professor Tim Illidge is co-ordinating a clinical trial called GEMBEX, testing whether a particular combination of drugs is effective for T-cell lymphoma that has come back after treatment.
Dr Andrew Jack and his team at the University of York are developing a way to predict which patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma will respond to treatment, and which will not. The researchers are using DNA and tissue samples to find molecular “signatures” that will help doctors to decide if someone is likely to get better with standard treatment, or if they might benefit from a different treatment.
Professor Andrew Lister at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London is also interested in searching for molecular “signatures” to help doctors tailor treatment to individual leukaemia and lymphoma patients. And his team are testing new treatments such as stem cell transplants.
Finally, at the University of Southampton, Professor Freda Stevenson and Dr Christian Ottensmeier are developing cancer vaccines for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These are not typical vaccines that are used to prevent disease. Instead, they are designed to “train” a patient’s immune system to seek out cancer cells within the body and destroy them. This kind of treatment holds great potential for the future.
Improving quality of life
We are committed to improving the quality of life for people with cancer and supporting them and their families.
Treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma can leave young women infertile. It is possible to freeze samples of ovary tissue containing eggs, in the hope that they can be used to create babies in the future. But at the moment the technology is not very well developed.
Dr Daniel Brison and his team at the University of Manchester are testing how well egg cells survive the freezing process, and finding out if they could potentially be used to make healthy babies for women who have survived this cancer.
Some people with certain forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma are given radiotherapy to help relieve the symptoms of the disease. Professor Peter Hoskin and his team at Mount Vernon Hospital are running a large scale clinical trial called FORT. The researchers are investigating the potential of using lower doses of radiotherapy to improve the quality of life for people with advanced follicular lymphoma.
Survival from non-Hodgkin lymphoma has improved greatly over recent decades, thanks to improved treatments. But we don’t know fully the long-term health effects of these treatments.
At the University of Birmingham, Raoul Reulen is investigating whether treatment for cancer as a child can affect a person’s health later in life. This study will involve nearly 10,000 adults who have survived childhood cancer, including people who have been treated for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Progress and future perspectives
- Thanks to advances in treatment, the outlook for people with non-Hodgkin lymphoma is improving
- Treatments that stimulate the immune system to attack lymphoma cells may hold promise in the future
- We are working to improve the quality of life for people living with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as investigating the health of long-term survivors
