Burkitt lymphoma

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Burkitt lymphoma, abbreviated BL, is an uncommon lymphoma with medium-sized cells.

General

  • Extremely high proliferative rate & rate of apoptosis.
  • Rare in adults -- 1-2% of adult lymphomas.[1]
  • Relatively common in children -- 30-50% of childhood lymphomas.[1]

Pathophysiology

  • Origin cell: germinal centre B cells (favoured) vs. memory B cells.[2]

Subtypes

  • Three subtypes recognized:[2]
  1. Endemic:
  2. Non-endemic:
    • Typical of the BL seen in the western world; EBV negative.
  3. Immunodeficiency associated:
    • Associated with HIV infection.

Microscopic

Features:

  • "Starry-sky pattern":
    • The stars in the pattern are: tingible-body macrophages.
      • Tingible-body macrophages = macrophages containing apoptotic tumour cells.
    • The tumour cells are the sky.
  • Tumour cells:[2]
    • Medium-sized (~1.5-2x the size of a RBC) with uniform size ("monotonous") -- key feature.
    • Round nucleus.
    • Small nucleoli.
    • Relatively abundant cytoplasm.
    • Brisk mitotic rate.

Images:

DDx:

  • DLBCL.
  • B cell lymphoma unclassifiable with features intermediate between DLBCL and Burkitt lymphoma.[3]

Cytology

Features:

  • Medium-sized lymphoid cells with small lipid vacuoles (~1-2 micrometers).[4]

Image:

IHC

Features:

  • CD20 +ve.
  • CD10 +ve.
  • BCL6 +ve.
  • EBER +ve.

Others:

  • BCL2 -ve.

Molecular pathology

Note:

  • MYC rearrangement is typically assessed with an ISH break apart probe.

See also

References

  1. Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 1.2 Online 'Mendelian Inheritance in Man' (OMIM) 113970
  2. Jump up to: 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Bellan C, Lazzi S, De Falco G, Nyongo A, Giordano A, Leoncini L (March 2003). "Burkitt's lymphoma: new insights into molecular pathogenesis". J. Clin. Pathol. 56 (3): 188–92. PMC 1769902. PMID 12610094. http://jcp.bmj.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=12610094.
  3. Carbone, A.; Gloghini, A.; Aiello, A.; Testi, A.; Cabras, A. (May 2010). "B-cell lymphomas with features intermediate between distinct pathologic entities. From pathogenesis to pathology.". Hum Pathol 41 (5): 621-31. doi:10.1016/j.humpath.2009.10.027. PMID 20398809.
  4. Troxell, ML.; Bangs, CD.; Cherry, AM.; Natkunam, Y.; Kong, CS. (Oct 2005). "Cytologic diagnosis of Burkitt lymphoma.". Cancer 105 (5): 310-8. doi:10.1002/cncr.21307. PMID 15986398.