Laboratory of Experimental Immunology
Lab Director
Dr. Chiorazzi studies chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a condition triggered by an individual B-cell gone wild. Since chronic lymphocytic leukemia is characterized by B-cell receptors that are auto-reactive, the disease seemed like a perfect model to study autoimmune diseases. In the last few years, Dr. Chiorazzi and his colleagues have figured out the structure of the B-cell receptor that triggers CLL and have sequenced the genes responsible for determining the shape of this rogue B-cell antibody.
These findings could lead to new treatments and ways to follow the disease course. It turns out that those who weather the disease (some people live for decades while others have a more aggressive course) have mutations in the shape of the antibody.
Dr. Chiorazzi said that these Immune system mutations are what you want because It gives the body more possibilities. The scientists spend their days making antibody shapes (that look like different versions of a hand) and fishing out things that bind to the hand.
They are trying to identify substances that could alter the CLL process. In fact, they have two new markers that make it easier to provide patients with a more exact prognosis and such markers will guide treatment decisions.