# Burkitt leukaemia

Source: https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/  
OnCo record `burkitt-leukaemia` (Cancer). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Burkitt leukaemia is Burkitt lymphoma presenting mainly in the bone marrow and blood, so that it looks like acute lymphoblastic leukaemia but is a mature B-cell cancer driven by the MYC gene. It is treated as Burkitt lymphoma, with short, very intensive chemotherapy plus rituximab and protection of the brain, and most children and many adults are cured.

## Summary

The WHO classification identifies Burkitt lymphoma/leukaemia as one highly aggressive mature B-cell neoplasm with endemic, sporadic and immunodeficiency-associated variants, all carrying MYC rearrangements, and the leukaemic presentation is defined by more than 25 percent marrow blasts (Alaggio 2022; Blum 2004). Brief-duration, high-intensity chemotherapy with aggressive central nervous system prophylaxis achieves complete remission in 75 to 90 percent of adults with overall survival of 50 to 70 percent, and the cells are extremely chemosensitive (Blum 2004). In children, a phase 2 window study of a single dose of rituximab in 136 patients with newly diagnosed mature B-cell lymphoma and Burkitt leukaemia established its activity before it was built into paediatric regimens (Meinhardt 2010).

How it differs from its parent: presentation by marrow failure and blood involvement rather than an abdominal or jaw mass, a higher tumour burden with tumour lysis risk at the start of treatment, and the need to distinguish it from precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (which lacks surface immunoglobulin and MYC rearrangement) because the treatments differ entirely.

How common: no registry figure for the leukaemic presentation alone.

Treatment: as Burkitt lymphoma on the parent page, with the regimens for high-risk or marrow-involved disease (rituximab with CODOX-M/IVAC, dose-adjusted EPOCH-R in adults, LMB or BFM-type regimens with rituximab in children), intrathecal and high-dose methotrexate prophylaxis, and tumour lysis prevention with rasburicase (Blum 2004; Meinhardt 2010).

## Fields

- Kind: Cancer
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: Burkitt leukemia; Burkitt lymphoma/leukaemia; Mature B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia; B-ALL L3 (retired FAB term); Burkitt leukaemia (more than 25% marrow blasts); Burkitt-type (mature B) leukaemia, treated as lymphoma
- Tags: subtype-page; wave4; haematologic; rare
- Group: haematologic
- Burden: A minority presentation of Burkitt lymphoma, defined by more than 25 percent marrow blasts; adult Burkitt lymphoma and leukaemia together are a rare, highly aggressive mature B-cell neoplasm (Blum 2004). No registry figure for the leukaemic presentation alone is in the sources read.
- Subtypes: Sporadic Burkitt leukaemia (the usual form in Europe and North America); Endemic Burkitt lymphoma with marrow involvement (EBV-positive); Immunodeficiency-associated Burkitt leukaemia (HIV); Burkitt leukaemia with central nervous system involvement
- Biomarkers: MYC rearrangement (t(8;14) or variants) with surface immunoglobulin and CD20; Marrow blasts over 25 percent; cerebrospinal fluid cytology; Lactate dehydrogenase and uric acid (tumour lysis risk); EBV status and HIV serology

## Sections of this record

The page is a hub with ten sections in reading order; large sections have their own page. The same plan as JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/sections.json

- Overview (on the hub): The TL;DR, the family this cancer belongs to, the organ, who gets it and what the state of the art is. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/#overview
- What it is (on the hub): Anatomy, the subtypes and how they differ, how it is staged, and where advanced disease spreads. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/#what-it-is [4 subtypes]
- Finding it (on the hub): How it shows itself, how it is confirmed, what screening exists, and the biomarkers clinicians test for. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/#finding-it [4 biomarkers]
- Treating it (on the hub): The standard of care by setting, the medicines, surgery and radiotherapy named in it, and the regimens behind them. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/#treating-it [1 setting, 1 decision with options]
- Evidence (on the hub): Trials recruiting now, the landmark trials, the key papers and what they mean, the latest literature, and the milestones year by year. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/#evidence
- The science (on the hub): The molecular landscape: the targets and how often each appears, the pathways, the mechanics stages and the preclinical models. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/#science [1 target]
- Where you are (own page): Cases by country, the UK and NHS pathway and other country lenses, and the expert centres with trials on record. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/where-you-are/
- Living with it (on the hub): The decisions you may face, the aids that walk through them, the warnings on record, the first sixty days and the questions to ask. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/#living-with-it [8 questions, 4 red cards]
- What is coming (own page): Everything in development, the open problems and what is being done about them, the roadmaps, and what changed on this record. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/coming/ [4 medicines]
- Data (own page): Every connected record, the notes, the JSON, Markdown and RDF twins, and where the record came from and when it was checked. https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/data/ [14 connected records]

## Standard of care

- All cases: Treated as high-risk Burkitt lymphoma: short intensive chemotherapy with rituximab, methotrexate-based CNS prophylaxis and tumour lysis prevention. ([Burkitt lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-lymphoma/), [Rituximab](https://onco.cc/drugs/rituximab/), [Methotrexate](https://onco.cc/drugs/methotrexate/), [Cyclophosphamide](https://onco.cc/drugs/cyclophosphamide/))

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkitt_lymphoma
- NCI PDQ: adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatment: https://www.cancer.gov/types/lymphoma/patient/adult-nhl-treatment-pdq
- NCI PDQ: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia treatment: https://www.cancer.gov/types/leukemia/patient/adult-all-treatment-pdq
- Alaggio 2022, Leukemia: the 5th edition WHO classification of haematolymphoid tumours, lymphoid neoplasms: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-022-01620-2
- Blum 2004, Blood: adult Burkitt leukaemia and lymphoma: https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2004-02-0405
- Meinhardt 2010, JCO: rituximab window study in paediatric mature B-cell lymphoma and Burkitt leukaemia: https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2009.26.6791

## Connected records

- cancers: [Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-leukemia/), [Burkitt lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-lymphoma/), [Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/dlbcl/), [HIV-associated (AIDS-related) lymphomas](https://onco.cc/cancers/hiv-associated-lymphoma/), [Mixed-phenotype acute leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/mixed-phenotype-acute-leukaemia/)
- drugs: [Cyclophosphamide](https://onco.cc/drugs/cyclophosphamide/), [Cytarabine](https://onco.cc/drugs/cytarabine/), [Methotrexate](https://onco.cc/drugs/methotrexate/), [Rituximab](https://onco.cc/drugs/rituximab/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/burkitt-leukaemia.json