New Investigator Research Grant Program

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is one of the most common types of adult blood cancer. While current drugs offer promising improvements in CLL treatment, new targeted therapies are needed to extend remission, overcome resistance, or even cure CLL. SF3B1, a key factor that regulates RNA expression, is frequently mutated in blood cancer and associated with poor survival of CLL patients. In these patients, a large amount of abnormal RNA is produced. However, how SF3B1 mutations lead to abnormal RNA generation and the pathogenic impact of abnormal RNA in blood cancer remain largely unclear. While SF3B1 mutations are known to cause errors in RNA sequences, we observed that the mutations additionally cause abnormal short RNAs in patients. More importantly, many of these short RNAs are produced from genes known to suppress cancer development, affecting their functions. This study investigates how SF3B1 mutations cause the occurrence of abnormal short RNA, improving our understanding of the role of SF3B1 mutations in blood cancer development and progression. These findings will define additional downstream genes and signaling pathways affected by SF3B1 mutations, paving the way for new treatment strategies for patients with SF3B1 mutations.