title: Low incidence of MYC/BCL2 double-hit in Burkitt lymphoma.
abstract: Translocations involving MYC are highly characteristic for Burkitt lymphoma (BL). BCL2 expression has also been found previously in about 10 to 20% of BL cases, and BCL2 translocation is a major mechanism for the deregulation of BCL2 expression in non-Hodgkin lymphomas. However, we know little about the incidence of MYC/BCL2 double-hit (DH) in BL. We examined BL cases to determine how frequently they contained BCL2 translocations in combination with MYC translocations using fluorescence in situ hybridization. We also determined the effect of BCL2 expression on clinical outcomes of BL. BCL2 translocations were detected in 3.5% (2/57 cases) of the cases, and BCL2 expression was detected in 33%. Two cases with BCL2 translocation also showed BCL2 expression. The incidence of BCL2 expression was significantly higher in patients 16 years of age and older (46%) than in patients under 16 years of age (6%). Among patients 16 years of age and older, we did not detect significant differences in overall survival with respect to BCL2 expression status. In conclusion, BCL2 translocation is a rare cytogenetic abnormality in BL, and BL probably accounts for only a small fraction of MYC/BCL2 DH lymphomas. BCL2 expression in BL is probably not associated with BCL2 translocations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Kurume, Japan.
authors.forename: Maki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Kurume, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Kurume, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miyoshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Kurume, Japan.
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kiyasu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Kurume, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshizo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Kurume, Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Niino
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Kurume, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohshima
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014178:Translocation, Genetic; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C000595707:BCL2 protein, human; C489427:MYC protein, human; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc
keywords: BCL2; Burkitt lymphoma; MYC; double-hit lymphoma