Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common low-grade lymphoma, accounting for approximately 15% of all lymphomas globally. FL develops within a complex tumor microenvironment composed of diverse immune and stromal cells, and its progression—or transformation into the more aggressive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma—is driven by additional mutations and environmental factors. This transformation is a life-threatening event with a poor prognosis. Yet, there are currently no clinical methods to accurately predict which patients are at the highest risk of transformation, highlighting the urgent need for better early detection strategies and biomarkers for disease progression.
This ASPIRE award focuses on leveraging advanced spatial omics techniques developed in the Fan lab to map the clonal architecture and microenvironment of FL at the single-cell level with unprecendented detail. The team will identify spatial biomarkers predictive of FL progression and transformation, categorize immune niches influencing disease outcomes, and profile tumor evolution before and after treatment. By integrating spatial transcriptomic, proteomic, and epigenomic data, this study aims to uncover tumor-intrinsic and extrinsic factors driving FL progression and therapeutic resistance, ultimately paving the way for more precise risk stratification and targeted interventions.