SP10: Long term effects of radiochemotherapy

In the primary care of indolent lymphoma, high dose radiochemotherapy followed by peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, is often the only treatment which provides a chance of recovery. This prospect is facing long-term complications, especially the appearance of second tumors like myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). One of the objectives of this subproject is to investigate the role of predisposed factors, and identify opportunitstic secondary malignancies caused by radiochemotherapy investigated.

To achieve this, bone marrow samples of lymphoma patients will be examined before and after radiochemotherapy and stem cell transplantation by means of modern immunologic and molecular biology methods. Especially the detection of immunophenotypically changed stem cells and MDS- or AML- associated genetic aberrations, as well as the analysis of genetic instability and genetic polymorphism for xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes are planed. The aim of these tasks is to get new insights in the pathogenetic origin of secondary neoplasia, and to optimise the identification and treatment of this disease without undue delelay.

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