{"entity":{"id":"burkitt-leukaemia","kind":"cancer","name":"Burkitt leukaemia","aka":["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"],"tldr":"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).\n\nHow 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.\n\nHow common: no registry figure for the leukaemic presentation alone.\n\nTreatment: 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).","asOf":"2026-09-24","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkitt_lymphoma","links":[{"label":"NCI PDQ: adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatment","url":"https://www.cancer.gov/types/lymphoma/patient/adult-nhl-treatment-pdq"},{"label":"NCI PDQ: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia treatment","url":"https://www.cancer.gov/types/leukemia/patient/adult-all-treatment-pdq"},{"label":"Alaggio 2022, Leukemia: the 5th edition WHO classification of haematolymphoid tumours, lymphoid neoplasms","url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-022-01620-2"},{"label":"Blum 2004, Blood: adult Burkitt leukaemia and lymphoma","url":"https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2004-02-0405"},{"label":"Meinhardt 2010, JCO: rituximab window study in paediatric mature B-cell lymphoma and Burkitt leukaemia","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2009.26.6791"}],"tags":["subtype-page","wave4","haematologic","rare"],"related":["burkitt-lymphoma","all-leukemia","hiv-associated-lymphoma","mixed-phenotype-acute-leukaemia","dlbcl"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["rituximab","methotrexate","cyclophosphamide","cytarabine"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"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"],"standardOfCare":[{"setting":"All cases","approach":"Treated as high-risk Burkitt lymphoma: short intensive chemotherapy with rituximab, methotrexate-based CNS prophylaxis and tumour lysis prevention.","refs":["burkitt-lymphoma","rituximab","methotrexate","cyclophosphamide"]}],"stateOfArt":[],"history":[],"pipeline":[],"openProblems":[],"parent":"burkitt-lymphoma"},"route":"/cancers/burkitt-leukaemia/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"all-leukemia","kind":"cancer","name":"Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","route":"/cancers/all-leukemia/"},{"id":"burkitt-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Burkitt lymphoma","route":"/cancers/burkitt-lymphoma/"},{"id":"dlbcl","kind":"cancer","name":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma","route":"/cancers/dlbcl/"},{"id":"hiv-associated-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"HIV-associated (AIDS-related) lymphomas","route":"/cancers/hiv-associated-lymphoma/"},{"id":"mixed-phenotype-acute-leukaemia","kind":"cancer","name":"Mixed-phenotype acute leukaemia","route":"/cancers/mixed-phenotype-acute-leukaemia/"}],"drug":[{"id":"cyclophosphamide","kind":"drug","name":"Cyclophosphamide","route":"/drugs/cyclophosphamide/"},{"id":"cytarabine","kind":"drug","name":"Cytarabine","route":"/drugs/cytarabine/"},{"id":"methotrexate","kind":"drug","name":"Methotrexate","route":"/drugs/methotrexate/"},{"id":"rituximab","kind":"drug","name":"Rituximab","route":"/drugs/rituximab/"}]}}