Mycosis fungoides – Prof. Emmanuella Guenova (CHUV)

Tackling problems of early diagnosis and prognostic stratification of mycosis fungoides using a systems medicine approach

Prof. Emmanuella Guenova (CHUV) was granted this “allocated fund” in January 2024 for 18 months.

Key strategies in the fight against cancer mortality are early detection and precise diagnosis. Especially in its early stage, mycosis fungoides (MF), the most common cutaneous T cell lymphoma, exhibits striking morphological similarities to benign inflammatory skin conditions. This results in two major problems: diagnostic delay and prognostic uncertainty. Here, we propose a large interdisciplinary effort, combining bioinformatics, biological research, and medicine to tackle the problems of early diagnosing and prognostic stratification of tumors such as MF. In the context of the Indo-Swiss research initiative, we profit from the unique opportunity to perform analysis of classical versus hypopigmented MF, a rare, distinct variant, prognostically clearly different from the classical disease. We postulate a key role of type 2-skewed immunity in MF cancer progression. We also see the naturally occurring hypopigmented MF variant with good prognosis and strong type 1 immunity as an ideal comparator to the classical MF phenotype that can help us understand disease complexity, identify negative immune regulators and define parameters for better MF patient classification and stratification.