Laura Zaragoza Infante

Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute | Swiss TPH · Department of Tuberculosis Immunology

Subset #201 is a clinically indolent subgroup of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia defined by the expression of stereotyped, mutated IGHV4-34/IGLV1-44 BCR Ig. Subset #201 is characterized by recurrent somatic hypermutations (SHMs) that frequently lead to the creation and/or disruption of N-glycosylation sites within the Ig H and L chain va...

Classification of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) based on the somatic hypermutation (SHM) status of the clonotypic immunoglobulin heavy variable (IGHV) gene has established predictive and prognostic relevance. The SHM status is assessed based on the number of mutations within the IG heavy variable domain sequence, albeit only over...

Intraclonal diversification (ID) within the immunoglobulin (IG) genes expressed by B cell clones arises due to ongoing somatic hypermutation (SHM) in a context of continuous interactions with antigen(s). Defining the nature and order of appearance of SHMs in the IG genes can assist in improved understanding of the ID process, shedding light into th...

The study of antigen receptor gene repertoires using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies has disclosed an unprecedented depth of complexity, requiring novel computational and analytical solutions. Several bioinformatics workflows have been developed to this end, including the T-cell receptor/immunoglobulin profiler (TRIP), a web applicati...

A rapid and accurate diagnostic assay represents an important means to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis , identify drug-resistant strains and ensure treatment success. Currently employed techniques to diagnose drug-resistant tuberculosis include slow phenotypic tests or more rapid molecular assays that evaluate a limited range of drugs. Whole-geno...

Almost one-third of all splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL) cases express B cell receptor immunoglobulin (BcR IG) encoded by the IGHV1-2*04 gene. Such cases display a distinctive profile of genomic aberrations (e.g. higher incidence of NOTCH2 and KLF2 mutations) and a more aggressive clinical course compared to SMZL cases utilizing other IGHV gen...

The term monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL) describes the presence of a clonal B cell population with a count of less than 5 × 10⁹/L and no symptoms or signs of disease. Based on the B cell count, MBL is further classified into 2 distinct subtypes: ‘low-count’ and ‘high-count’ MBL. High-count MBL shares a series of biological and clinical featur...

The three distinct entities classified within the broad category of marginal Zone lymphomas (MZL), namely extranodal of MALT type, nodal (NMZL) and splenic (SMZL) differ in tissues involved, genetic features, clinical presentation, prognosis and possible treatments. However, a common feature shared by all 3 concerns the pivotal role of interactions...

The clonotypic B cell receptor immunoglobulin (BcR IG) plays a seminal role in B cell lymphoma development and evolution. From a clinical perspective, this view is supported by the remarkable therapeutic efficacy of BcR signaling inhibitors, even among heavily pre-treated, relapsed/refractory patients. This clinical development complements immunoge...

Cells respond to external stimuli with transient gene expression changes in order to adapt to environmental alterations. However, the dose response profile of gene induction upon a given stress depends on many intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Here we show that the accurate quantification of dose dependent gene expression by live cell luciferase rep...