The Treviso section of the Italian Leukemia and Lymphoma Association has allocated a contribution of 148,000 Euros for the 24-month research project of Renato Zambello, VIMM researcher and Professor of the University of Padua
Padua, 1 May 2024 – Renato Zambello, researcher at the Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Hematology Unit of the University of Padua, was the winner of a two-year project, financed with a contribution of 148,000 euros from the Italian Leukemia and Lymphoma Association (AIL) – Treviso section.
The topic of the project, entitled “An innovative approach to distinguish unspecified Clonal T Lymphocytosis from Chronic Leukemia of T-type Granulated Lymphocytes”, concerns a population of blood cells (cytotoxic T lymphocytes) capable of defending us against viruses and tumors.
Small quantities of these lymphocytes (T lymphocyte clones) can be present in completely asymptomatic individuals, but in some cases this small population can result in a disease, which is defined as T-type Large Granulated Lymphocyte Leukemia.
The project addresses a controversial question: what are the characteristics that more properly identify these “innocent” T lymphocyte clones compared to the “aggressive” ones, therefore capable of developing leukemia?
The research group of prof. Zambello, making use of the collaboration between the Hematology Department of the University of Padua Hospital, directed by prof. Livio Trentin, and the Hematology of the Ca’ Foncello Hospital in Treviso, directed by Dr. Filippo Gherlinzoni therefore aims to define, using latest generation biological techniques, the criteria and strategies to distinguish the different types of lymphoproliferative disorders of T lymphocytes, which constitute a spectrum of conditions that goes from a benign extremity to a frankly malignant one.
The objective is above all to separate indolent (i.e. not accompanied by clinical manifestations) and ‘harmless’ alterations of the immune system from those of a tumoral nature, destined to evolve over time into a disease with an unfortunate outcome.
“The research project – explains prof. Renato Zambello – will have a significant not only scientific impact, contributing to improving biological understanding and refining the diagnostic criteria of T lymphoproliferative disorders, but will also have significant psychological implications for patients, reasonably worried by an improper use of the term “leukemia”, used to define some conditions actually without characteristics of malignancy”.
