Disease Briefing

Marginal zone lymphoma: research and therapeutic landscape

A live synthesis of what is being targeted, what is being trialled, which datasets exist, and where the actionable gaps sit — assembled from public APIs, with every figure traceable to its source.

Generated 2026-09-30Sources Open Targets · ClinicalTrials.gov · openFDA · GEO · PubMed · Europe PMC · iCite · RePORTERRanked 39 studies · 2,027 GEO samples
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Reorders emphasis only — nothing is hidden or loaded on demand.

Answer block

12 genes recurrently implicated in marginal zone lymphoma — MYD88, KLF2, NOTCH2, TNFAIP3, BIRC3, MALT1, CARD11, KMT2D, PTPRD, TP53, BTK, MS4A1 — triaged for what can actually be aimed at them, alongside the trials, public datasets, literature and funding around the disease. Every figure below carries its source and retrieval date in the section it comes from.

3
drugs carry an FDA label naming marginal zone lymphoma: Lenalidomide, Lisocabtagene Maraleucel, Zanubrutinib. This counts labels, not treatment — the disease is also treated with agents approved under broader indications
0
of the 12 genes above carries a drug approved in marginal zone lymphoma — 54 drug entries reach them, 49 distinct once salt forms are merged, and 10 of those are approved for other indications. A statement about these gene targets, not about the disease
3
registered CD20 cell-therapy trials in marginal zone lymphoma, 2 active. Counted from ClinicalTrials.gov across 4 synonyms, deduplicated by NCT id, interventional studies only — the query is published in the JSON beside this page so the number can be re-derived
9
targets carry an Open Targets tractability signal and no trial in marginal zone lymphoma that the searches found (no trial naming a drug Open Targets lists for the gene, none naming it as a cell-therapy target): MYD88, KLF2, NOTCH2, TNFAIP3, BIRC3, CARD11, KMT2D, PTPRD, TP53. MALT1, BTK, MS4A1 all have cell-therapy trials, so they are undrugged rather than untouched
99
human GEO series match the disease; 39 survive on-topic filtering, and only 2 are patient cohorts of 100+ samples
26
Europe PMC full-text papers name GSE25639 — the highest accession-mention count in the set. A mention is not proof of reanalysis, so read it as reach rather than reuse
$1.0M
NIH obligations in FY2021 — the last fiscal year with a matching project; none matched in FY2022–FY2025, up 270% since 2013 — while distinct core projects went 1 to 1. Larger awards rather than more distinct core projects; core projects are not the same unit as laboratories

Target landscape

Open Targets · retrieved 2026-09-30 · weekly

12 genes recurrently implicated in marginal zone lymphoma, triaged for whether anything can actually be aimed at them. The zeros are the informative rows.

Of 12 recurrently implicated genes, 6 carry any drug at all. That is a statement about these 12 gene targets, not about the disease: Marginal zone lymphoma does have labelled therapy — 3 drugs, listed in the next section.

Two different questions

The table below asks what can be aimed at 12 recurrently implicated genes. That is narrower than what is approved for the disease, and narrower again than what marginal zone lymphoma is actually treated with, which includes agents approved under broader indications. All three are on this page and they are kept apart deliberately.

GeneDrugsApproval, and whether it reached this diseaseOpen Targets tractabilitycomputed from protein features and literature — a signal that a modality is worth trying, not evidence that it worksCell therapy here
MYD88 across cancers → 0 No drug— antibody, protein degrader —
KLF2 0 No drug— protein degrader —
NOTCH2 across cancers → 1 Phase 2TarextumabNo marginal zone lymphoma trial of any of these drugs antibody, protein degrader, small molecule —
TNFAIP3 across cancers → 0 No drug— protein degrader —
BIRC3 1 Phase 2BirinapantNo marginal zone lymphoma trial of any of these drugs protein degrader, small molecule —
MALT1 1 WithdrawalMepazineNo marginal zone lymphoma trial of any of these drugs protein degrader, small molecule 1 active of 1 trial
CARD11 0 No drug— antibody, protein degrader —
KMT2D across cancers → 0 No drug— antibody, protein degrader, small molecule —
PTPRD 0 No drug— antibody, protein degrader —
TP53 across cancers → 8 Phase 3Alrizomadlin, Cenersen, Contusugene Ladenovec, Eprenetapopt, Idasanutlin, Navtemadlin, Siremadlin, TeprasiranNo marginal zone lymphoma trial of any of these drugs other clinical modality, protein degrader, small molecule —
BTK across cancers → 20 5 approvedAcalabrutinib, Orelabrutinib, Rilzabrutinib, Ritlecitinib, TirabrutinibApproved in mantle cell lymphoma, B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura and 1 other indications. No marginal zone lymphoma indication appears on these drugs’ labels.48 active of 79 marginal zone lymphoma trials antibody, protein degrader, small molecule 1 active of 1 trial
MS4A1 across cancers → 18 5 approvedEpcoritamab, Mosunetuzumab, Obinutuzumab, Odronextamab, TositumomabApproved in follicular lymphoma, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and 1 other indications. No marginal zone lymphoma indication appears on these drugs’ labels.77 active of 256 marginal zone lymphoma trials antibody, other clinical modality, protein degrader, small molecule 2 active of 3 trials

Dataset evidence counts studies in the 39-study ranked set whose title or abstract names the gene; the bar is scaled to TNFAIP3. Sources: Open Targets Platform and NCBI GEO, retrieved 2026-09-30. Clinical stage is the highest reached for any indication — see the per-drug indications noted in each row. Target-prioritisation reference only; not clinical or prescribing guidance.

What is actually approved here

openFDA drug labels · weekly

3 drugs carry an FDA label naming marginal zone lymphoma: Lenalidomide, Lisocabtagene Maraleucel, Zanubrutinib. Separately, 10 of the drugs returned for the genes in the table above are approved only for other diseases and reach marginal zone lymphoma through trials, not through their labels.

3Labelled for marginal zone lymphomaFDA INDICATIONS AND USAGE names the disease
10Approved, but for another diseasereturned for the genes in the table above
0Backbone agents listing itbroad cytotoxics whose labels name many tumours
2Active cell-therapy trials naming CD20of 3 registered

Every label that names marginal zone lymphoma

DrugRoleWhat the label says
LenalidomideLENALIDOMIDE, Lenalidomide, RevlimidLabelled hereMarginal Zone Lymphoma REVLIMID in combination with a rituximab product, is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with previously treated marginal zone lymphoma (MZL). 1.6. .
Lisocabtagene MaraleucelBREYANZILabelled hereMarginal Zone Lymphoma (MZL) BREYANZI is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) who have received at least 2 prior lines of systemic therapy.
ZanubrutinibBRUKINSALabelled hereMarginal Zone Lymphoma BRUKINSA is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) who have received at least one anti–CD20-based regimen.

16 labels carry a positive indication naming the disease under indications_and_usage:"marginal zone lymphoma"; they collapse to 3 distinct molecules once salt forms, biosimilars and co-formulated hyaluronidase are merged. Source: openFDA drug label API (api.fda.gov/drug/label.json), retrieved 2026-09-18. Labels change; this reflects the current label text, not the approval history. Not prescribing guidance.

Labels that name marginal zone lymphoma without indicating for it

A label can name a disease under Limitations of Use, in a contraindication or as a risk. These were read and are not counted above.

DrugWhy notWhat the label says
TafasitamabMONJUVIExcluded by labelLimitations of Use : MONJUVI is not indicated and is not recommended for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma outside of controlled clinical trials.

Cell therapy against CD20

ClinicalTrials.gov · retrieved 2026-09-18 · weekly

CD20 is the busiest cell-therapy target among those this briefing searched in marginal zone lymphoma: 3 registered trials naming it, 2 still active. It has no gene entry of its own and is reached through MS4A1: a form or product of that gene.

TrialPhaseStatusTitleLast update
NCT072254391RecruitingRituximab (Rtx) + Tafasitamab in Combination With Allogeneic NK Cells for Treatment of Relapsed/Refractory (r/r) B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL)2026-09-09
NCT032777291/2ActiveA Phase I/II Study to Evaluate the Safety of Cellular Immunotherapy Using Autologous T Cells Engineered to Express a CD20-Specific Chimeric Antigen Receptor for Patients With Relapsed or Refractory B Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas2026-06-22
NCT001764751TerminatedIrradiated Donor Lymphocytes and Rituximab in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Lymphoproliferative Disease2013-09-17

3 of 3 shown, most recently active first. Other targets searched: BTK (1). Source: ClinicalTrials.gov API v2, retrieved 2026-09-18. A trial counts here when its registered conditions name marginal zone lymphoma or a tumour-agnostic basket, its title names an administered cell product, and the title names this target: a HER2 CAR-T trial that adds a PD-1 antibody is a HER2 trial. A trial stating only a product code is missed.

Research momentum

PubMed MeSH · monthly

Every term below is a share of the marginal zone lymphoma literature, not a count, because the field itself grew: 2015–2018 (n=604) against 2021–2025 (n=613). A topic whose papers doubled while the field doubled has not risen.

Rising, with a real baseline

MeSH term2015–182021–25ChangeShare now
Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin1.82%7.34%4.03×45 papers
Mucous Membrane1.32%2.94%2.22×18 papers
Lymphoid Tissue2.48%5.06%2.04×31 papers
Lymphoma1.49%2.61%1.75×16 papers
Radiotherapy Dosage1.49%2.61%1.75×16 papers
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local3.81%6.2%1.63×38 papers
Stomach Neoplasms12.75%20.39%1.6×125 papers
Helicobacter pylori7.78%12.23%1.57×75 papers
Disease Progression1.32%1.96%1.48×12 papers
Helicobacter Infections8.94%12.23%1.37×75 papers

Cooling

MeSH term2015–182021–25ChangeShare now
Immunohistochemistry8.77%2.94%0.33×18 papers
Biomarkers, Tumor6.62%2.61%0.39×16 papers
Splenic Neoplasms9.77%3.92%0.4×24 papers
Biopsy10.93%4.73%0.43×29 papers
Follow-Up Studies6.95%3.1%0.45×19 papers
Remission Induction4.64%2.28%0.49×14 papers

Biggest topics now

MeSH term2015–182021–25ChangeShare now
Stomach Neoplasms12.75%20.39%1.6×125 papers
Helicobacter pylori7.78%12.23%1.57×75 papers
Helicobacter Infections8.94%12.23%1.37×75 papers
Treatment Outcome18.05%11.58%0.64×71 papers
Prognosis9.11%11.09%1.22×68 papers
Rituximab11.26%8.65%0.77×53 papers
Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin1.82%7.34%4.03×45 papers
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local3.81%6.2%1.63×38 papers
Eye Neoplasms5.3%6.04%1.14×37 papers
Lung Neoplasms8.44%5.55%0.66×34 papers

Publication mix

Type2015–182021–25
Clinical Trial0.0%0.2%
Randomized Controlled Trial0.2%0.0%
Review16.1%11.3%
Meta-Analysis0.3%1.1%
Case Reports0.2%7.5%

Query: Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone[MeSH Major Topic] NOT ("Lymphoma, Follicular"[MeSH] OR "Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia"[MeSH] OR "Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell"[MeSH] OR "Lymphoma, Mantle-Cell"[MeSH] OR "Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse"[MeSH]). Terms need at least 12 papers in the recent window and, in the rising table, at least 5 in the earlier one — a term going from 1 paper to 12 is a large fold change and no evidence of anything. Ubiquitous descriptors (Humans, Animals, age bands) and the disease’s own term are dropped. Source: PubMed MeSH, retrieved 2026-09-17.

Disease burden

What the public sources count, and how closely each category matches this disease. The same figures for every disease on the site are on one table.

MeasureValueMatchWhat it counts
New cases each year79,320 cases/yearproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2026
Deaths each year19,970 deaths/yearproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2026
Incidence rate18.7 cases per 100,000 per yearproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2019-2023
Death rate4.8 deaths per 100,000 per yearproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2020-2024
People living with it872,940 people living with the diseaseproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2023
New cases each year—not publishedSEER publishes no subtype page for marginal zone lymphoma; the American Cancer Society gives a share of lymphomas as a range ("about 5% to 10%") and no count.
Deaths each year—not publishedNot published for the subtype.
Five-year relative survival—not publishedNot published for the subtype by SEER or the American Cancer Society.
Median age at diagnosis—not publishedNot published for the subtype.

Years of life lost: not computed. Years of life lost needs survival, age at diagnosis and a case count. five_year_relative_survival, median_age_at_diagnosis, incident cases is not recorded for this disease.

Funding

NIH RePORTER · quarterly

NIH obligations naming marginal zone lymphoma, after removing the 67 records across all years that matched the search but are about something else. That filter is not cosmetic: without it this section reports another field’s funding as this disease’s.

No matching project in FY2022–FY2025. The figures below are for FY2021, the last fiscal year in which a RePORTER award passed this briefing’s topic filter; the query and the filter are in the JSON beside this page, and a zero here is a search result, not a statement that no such research is funded.

$1.0MNIH obligations, FY2021from $0.3M in FY2013 · +270%
1distinct projects funded1 in FY2013
$1.0Mpeak year was FY2021obligations, all institutes
100%of FY2021 awards from NCI1 of 1

NIH obligations by fiscal year

$0M$0M$1M$1M1321
YearObligationsAwardsDistinct projectsDropped as off-topic
FY2013$0.3M119
FY2020$1.0M114
FY2021$1.0M117

Where FY2021 money went

InstitutionObligationsAwards
Division Of Clinical Sciences - Nci$1.0M1

Text search marginal zone lymphoma OR MALT lymphoma OR mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma over project title, terms and abstract, per fiscal year. Awards are individual funding actions; distinct projects collapse them by core project number, so a multi-year grant counts once. The most recent year may be incomplete. Source: NIH RePORTER, retrieved 2026-09-19.

Who funds it, FY2021

The total says how much. These say who from, through what kind of award, and to whom — which a dollar figure cannot.

NIH institutes

NCI1 · 100%

Projects by administering institute. The rows above are the top 1 and account for 1 of 1.

Award mechanisms

ZIA1 · 100%

R01 is an investigator-initiated grant; ZIA is NIH intramural, meaning the work happens inside NIH rather than being funded outside it. The rows above are the top 1 and account for 1 of 1.

Where it lands

Division Of Clinical Sciences - Nci$1.0M · 100.0%

Share of $1.0M in FY2021. The top three hold 100%.

Public datasets, ranked

NCBI GEO + Europe PMC + iCite · weekly

99 human GEO series match marginal zone lymphoma. Keyword relevance cannot tell a 218-sample patient cohort from a six-well cell-line experiment, so this ranking scores four things GEO does not expose: how often the accession is named in full-text papers, field-normalised citation impact, clinical annotation, and cohort type.

Composition of the 39-study ranked set

unspecified 18patient 17mixed 2xenograft 1cell line 1
18 unspecified17 patient2 mixed1 xenograft1 cell line17 carry clinical annotation5 carry survival2 patient cohorts ≥100 GEO samples2,027 GEO samples totalin 1 single-cell series the GEO sample count is the submitter’s unit (cells, libraries or pools), not patients

Established

high reuse, older
AccessionStudySamplesMentionsEurope PMCRCREvidence
GSE24881Affymetrix SNP array data for Marginal Zone Lymphoma samples2011 · array21856.8
patient cohortAPT 0.95survivalmolecularTNFAIP3TP53303 cites
GSE68078Cytoscan HD arrays data for Nodal marginal zone lymphoma (NMZL)2015 · array5824.1
APT 0.95survivalmolecularBIRC3CARD11MYD88140 cites
GSE24485miRNA expression profile of human MALT lymphoma compared to gastritis and gDLBCL2010 · array2223.3
patient cohortAPT 0.75stagemolecularHELICOBACTER142 cites
GSE35278Genomic analysis of marginal zone and lymphoplasmacytic lymphomas identified common and disease-specific abnormalities2012 · array11421.3
patient cohortAPT 0.75molecularTNFAIP3TP5352 cites
GSE18736Differential Expression of NF-kB target genes in MALT lymphoma with and without chromosome translocation: insights into molecular mechanism2010 · array3312.1
mixedAPT 0.5molecularBCL2ERADICATIONMALT191 cites
GSE25639A mouse model of deregulation of the malt1 oncogene recapitulates the pathogenesis of human malt lymphoma2012 · array114261.4
xenograftAPT 0.25molecularMALT170 cites
GSE16024Identification of molecular mechanisms involved in pathogenesis of MALT lymphoma from small sample size2010 · array627—
patient cohortmolecularBCL2ERADICATIONMALT1
GSE9327Microarray expression of B-cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma cases2008 · array200150.3
APT 0.0519 cites

Recent

2022 onward, by score
AccessionStudySamplesMentionsEurope PMCRCREvidence
GSE252608Multimodal single-cell profiling identifies distinct patterns of T-cell infiltration in nodal B-cell lymphoma entities2024 · single-cell10236.7
patient cohortAPT 0.7562 cites
GSE154834Overlap Between Pediatric Nodal Marginal Zone Lymphoma (PNMZL) and Pediatric-Type Follicular Lymphoma (PTFL) : Morphological and Molecular Analysis2022 · array5612.9
APT 0.7536 cites
GSE221412Early detection of extranodal marginal zone lymphoma in Sjögren's syndrome patients through immunogenetics2023 · other2811.4
patient cohortAPT 0.259 cites
GSE279602Epigenetic features support the diagnosis of B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia and identify two clinico-biological subtypes2025 · methylation2010.1
patient cohortAPT 0.25survival1 cites
GSE260667Epigenome analysis of nodal marginal zone lymphoma and diffuse large b cell lymphoma2024 · methylation521—
patient cohortAPT 0.05
GSE227833A single cell RNA-Seq 5’ study of splenic marginal zone lymphomas (SMZL) and spleen healthy donors2024 · sequencing810.6
patient cohortAPT 0.055 cites

Sources: NCBI GEO + Europe PMC + iCite, retrieved 2026-09-19. SubSeries are collapsed to one row per study by linked PMID. Of 99 series retrieved, 12 were dropped by the profile’s exclusion rules and 33 named the disease only in passing. The ranked set is a relevance-ranked sample, not a census, so the composition figures describe the sample only.

Where the gaps are

Derived from the sections above · recomputed on every refresh

Each card below is a disagreement between two of the tables on this page — a drug that exists but was never tried here, a target that looks tested and was not, a gene with no drug whose product has a busy clinical programme. They are computed from the same facts as the tables, so they cannot contradict them.

MYD88

Open Targets lists no drug against it and no trial in marginal zone lymphoma names it. A bounded negative: the sources and search terms are in the JSON beside this page.

KLF2

Open Targets lists no drug against it and no trial in marginal zone lymphoma names it. A bounded negative: the sources and search terms are in the JSON beside this page.

TNFAIP3

Open Targets lists no drug against it and no trial in marginal zone lymphoma names it. A bounded negative: the sources and search terms are in the JSON beside this page.

MALT1

1 cell-therapy trials against BTK, 1 active, and no approved product. The clinical activity is real and none of it has reached a label.

CARD11

Open Targets lists no drug against it and no trial in marginal zone lymphoma names it. A bounded negative: the sources and search terms are in the JSON beside this page.

KMT2D

Open Targets lists no drug against it and no trial in marginal zone lymphoma names it. A bounded negative: the sources and search terms are in the JSON beside this page.

PTPRD

Open Targets lists no drug against it and no trial in marginal zone lymphoma names it. A bounded negative: the sources and search terms are in the JSON beside this page.

How a machine reads this page

Static

This page is written to be quoted correctly by a model as much as read by a person. The same facts are available as JSON at the sibling URL below, which is what to cite. The cross-disease layer — burden, genes, drugs and antigens across every briefing — is described at /disease/api.json.

Fully server-rendered

Every figure is in the HTML at first byte. No JavaScript runs, no figure is fetched after load, and nothing on this page requires a renderer to see.

Every number carries a source

Each section names the API it came from and the date it was retrieved: Open Targets (2026-09-30), ClinicalTrials.gov (2026-09-18), openFDA (2026-09-18), NCBI GEO (2026-09-19), PubMed (2026-09-17), NIH RePORTER (2026-09-19).

Negatives stated explicitly

Where the searches find nothing for marginal zone lymphoma — no drug, no trial, no approval — the page says so in those words rather than omitting the row, and names the source searched. An absent row is unquotable; a bounded negative is the finding.

Denominators, not just percentages

Every share is printed with the count and the total it came from, so a figure can be checked rather than taken.

The filters are published

5 exclusion patterns are applied to free text before anything is ranked, because none: no line is in regular use is used as a model system in marginal zone lymphoma. What was removed and why is stated in each section rather than silently applied.

{
  "disease": "Marginal zone lymphoma",
  "mesh": "Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone",
  "facts": "https://usebiotransfer.org/disease/marginal-zone-lymphoma.json",
  "methods": "https://usebiotransfer.org/methods/",
  "all_diseases": "https://usebiotransfer.org/disease/api.json",
  "note": "Every figure on the page is in that JSON with its source and retrieval date. Quote from it rather than from the HTML."
}