Cytogenetic studies on four cases of non-endemic Burkitt lymphoma.

Cytogenetic studies carried out on four children with non-endemic Burkitt lymphoma showed: 1) Two with the typical translocation t(8;14)(q24;q23); 2) one with a variant t(2;8)(p11;q24); and 3) one with apparently normal chromosomes 8 and 14. Additional chromosomal variation was present in all four patients. Two were shown to have a duplication of part of the long arm of chromosome 1 (1q23 leads to 1q32 and 1q23 leads to 1q42). Epstein Barr virus studies on two patients showed that one was positive and the other negative. A comparison of these results with other non-endemic cases in the literature has been made revealing a wider range of chromosomal variation than has been hitherto reported for endemic cases. The finding that chromosome 8 is also involved in the variant translocations in Burkitt lymphoma suggests that its changes may contribute more to the tumour development than the than the 14q+.