Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) is listed in the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of lymphoid tumours as an "aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma", characterized by a high degree of proliferation of the malignant cells and deregulation of the c-MYC gene.
Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) is listed in the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of lymphoid tumours as an 'aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma', characterized by a high degree of proliferation of the malignant cells and deregulation of the c-MYC gene.
Burkitt lymphoma is a germinal center B-cell-derived cancer that was instrumental in the identification of MYC as an important human oncogene more than three decades ago.
Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is almost uniformly associated with translocations involving the gene for MYC on chromosome 8.
Burkitt's lymphoma is characterized by a translocation of the c-myc gene with one of the immunoglobulin loci which activates overexpression of the c-myc oncogene.
Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) and B-ALL are characterized by chromosomal translocations juxtaposing the c-myc gene on chromosome 8 to one of the immunoglobulin loci.
MYC rearrangement is a recurring genetic abnormality in several aggressive B-cell lymphomas including: Burkitt lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; B-cell lymphoma, unclassifiable with features intermediate between diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and Burkitt lymphoma; rare de novo acute lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia, transformed follicular lymphoma, and plasmablastic lymphoma.
MYC IHC and FISH analyses were performed on 30 cases of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with 80% or more Ki-67 index, one case of DLBCL transformed from follicular lymphoma, three cases of B cell lymphoma intermediate between DLBCL and Burkitt lymphoma (IM), six cases of Burkitt lymphoma (BL) and one case of reactive lymph node.
MYC gene alterations in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas and in B-cell lymphomas, unclassifiable, with features intermediate between diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and Burkitt lymphoma are frequently associated with BCL2 or/and BCL6 translocations conferring a very aggressive behavior.
MYC translocations occurred as single hit (only MYC rearranged, 63%) or multiple hit lymphoma (37%) and presented as acute leukemia (AL) (14%), Burkitt lymphoma (30%), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (21%) or other mature B-cell neoplasms (35%).
A high Ki-67 proliferation index and positive bcl-2 staining (on cytospin slides or cell block material) of cases not conforming to typical Burkitt lymphoma morphology should prompt FISH analysis for c-MYC and/or IGH-BCL2 rearrangements to identify DHL, particularly if tissue biopsy is not expected.