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Why is chromosome 14 a site of high-risk myeloma genetics? What is the job of chromosome 14?
Posted by
HealthTree • January 6, 2021
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Why is chromosome 14 a site of high-risk myeloma genetics? The translocations that we see in myeloma come from errors of cutting and pasting DNA that are an integral part of development of plasma cells and B cells. So plasma cells are part of the immune system that have been likened to the snipers of the immune system. Their job is to produce the bullets of the immune system that we call antibodies that normally are directed against invaders to the body, viruses, bugs, and they come out of a type of immune cell that we call B cells. Now B cells, when they decide to become plasma cells, when they decide to become snipers, they need to learn how to make bullets and how to make antibodies. And part of this process involves cutting and pasting of DNA. The cutting and pasting of DNA is not random. It has to happen at specific locations. They often involve chromosome 14 because on chromosome 14 we have genes that instruct the B cell to make antibodies, to make bullets. In other words, the genes for the bullets of the immune system that we call antibodies are on chromosome 14. So if you are a B cell that has decided to become a sniper of the immune system, to become a plasma cell, you need to pay attention to your chromosome 14 because that's where you will find if you want the prime material to make or to be able to generate bullets of the immune system, to be able to generate antibodies. So chromosome 14 is of prime interest in these cells. They will look there for how to make antibodies. They will need to cut and paste pieces of DNA. And as we were saying in conference, nothing in life is 100%. Mistakes happen. So the part of chromosome 4, for example, in the 414 translocation should have never come next to the chromosome 14 part. It's an error. It's a mistake. It's a random event that rarely happens. But when it happens, it gives the myeloma cell superpowers, the powers to divide faster, the powers to not die when it reaches the end of its lifespan. So that sets the stage for what we eventually will diagnose in the clinic as myeloma. So chromosome 14 is a prime location that encodes for parts of antibodies. So a plasma cell has a lot of interest in chromosome 14. It will try to work on chromosome 14. But if a mistake places another oncogene, a cancer gene right next to chromosome 14, which by the way is a very powerful region, then that error could lead to one of the translocations, the 1114 translocation, the 414 translocation and so on that we see as initiating events in myeloma.
