The role of cyclin D1 in lymphopoiesis

DIEGO LADERACH, FLORENCE VASSEUR, MIGUEL FERREIRA, BENEDITA ROCHA

LISBON, PORTUGAL

Simposio; First AnnualSymposium Harvard Medical School- Portugal Program in Translational Research and Information; 2009

Harvard Medical School

Facets of Immune Cell Growth In a mouse study that changed the way Benedita Rocha´s group looks at the natural cycle of cell division, they explored the role of the cell cycle protein cyclin D1 and the two closely related cyclins, D2 and D3. She and her colleagues worked in lymphocytes, immune cells that arise from the blood and replicate dramatically in response to an attack on the body. The team silenced either the complete gene for cyclin D1 or only a portion of it, leaving intact the domains known to regulate the transcription of other genes. The researchers found that the total absence of D1 blocked the formation of blood cells, or hematopoiesis, and most mice died. But the activation of just the regulatory domains of D1 led to an extraordinary amplification of hematopoietic cells. Her talk, “The Role of Cyclin D1 in Lymphopoiesis,” demonstrated the complexity of cyclin D1’s role in hematopoiesis, in general, and in lymphocyte replication, in particular.