Burkitt's lymphoma overview

Overview
Burkitt's lymphoma (or "Burkitt's tumor", or "Malignant lymphoma, Burkitt's type") is a cancer of the lymphatic system (in particular, B lymphocytes). It is associated with the Epstein-Barr virus, also the cause of mononucleosis as well as other cancers. It is named after Denis Parsons Burkitt, a surgeon who first described the disease in 1956 while working in equatorial Africa.

Children affected with the disease often also had chronic malaria which is believed to have reduced resistance to the Epstein-Barr virus and allowed it to take hold. This is known as classical African or endemic Burkitt's lymphoma. Disease characteristics include large tumors in the facial or abdominal regions.

The sporadic type of Burkitt's lymphoma (also known as "non-African") is another form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma found outside of Africa in which cancer cells have a similar appearance to the cancer cells of classical African or endemic Burkitt's lymphoma. Again it is believed that impaired immunity provides an opening for development of the Epstein-Barr virus. Examination of chromosomes from these tumor cells often shows translocation of the myc and Ig genes (t: 8;14).