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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.
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).
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.
Leukaemias, myeloma and MDS live in the marrow and blood; lymphomas grow in lymph nodes and spleen. The node stations are the disease map, not a route of spread, and staging counts them.
In lymphoma the node stations are the disease itself; staging (Ann Arbor / Lugano) counts how many regions and sides of the diaphragm are involved.
Same organ: Extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma), Splenic marginal zone lymphoma, Nodal marginal zone lymphoma, Primary cutaneous marginal zone lymphoma, Primary cutaneous follicle centre lymphoma, Sezary syndrome, Nodal T-follicular helper cell lymphoma, angioimmunoblastic type (angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma), Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma, Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma, Lymphomatoid granulomatosis, T-cell prolymphocytic leukaemia, Splenic B-cell lymphoma/leukaemia with prominent nucleoli (formerly B-cell prolymphocytic leukaemia and hairy cell leukaemia variant), T-cell large granular lymphocytic leukaemia, Mixed-phenotype acute leukaemia, Myeloid leukaemia of Down syndrome, Marginal zone lymphoma, Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (mycosis fungoides and Sezary syndrome), Primary mediastinal (thymic) large B-cell lymphoma, Leukaemia (all types), Acute myeloid leukaemia, Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Follicular lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, Mantle cell lymphoma, Multiple myeloma, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types), Myelodysplastic syndromes / neoplasms (MDS), Myeloproliferative neoplasms (PV, ET, myelofibrosis), Polycythaemia vera (PV), Essential thrombocythaemia (ET), Waldenström macroglobulinaemia, Hairy cell leukaemia, Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma), Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), Burkitt lymphoma, HIV-associated (AIDS-related) lymphomas, Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia and MDS/MPN overlap neoplasms, Systemic mastocytosis, Erdheim-Chester disease, Rosai-Dorfman disease and other histiocytic neoplasms, Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukaemia, IDH1- and IDH2-mutated acute myeloid leukaemia, NPM1-mutated and KMT2A-rearranged acute myeloid leukaemia, Secondary and therapy-related acute myeloid leukaemia, Acute promyelocytic leukaemia, Acute myeloid leukaemia in older or unfit patients, Smouldering multiple myeloma, Newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, transplant-eligible, Newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, transplant-ineligible, Relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, Plasma cell leukaemia, Lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, Higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, first treatment, Relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, Richter transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, Chronic myeloid leukaemia, chronic phase, Chronic myeloid leukaemia, accelerated and blast phase, Primary myelofibrosis, Standard-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children, High-risk acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children (high-risk B-ALL and T-ALL), Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children (Ph-positive ALL), Philadelphia chromosome-like acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (Ph-like or BCR::ABL1-like ALL), Infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (KMT2A-rearranged, under one year), Relapsed and refractory acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children, Acute myeloid leukaemia in children, Erdheim-Chester disease, Rosai-Dorfman-Destombes disease, Single-system Langerhans cell histiocytosis (bone, skin or one other organ), Multisystem Langerhans cell histiocytosis (with or without risk-organ involvement), Indolent and smouldering systemic mastocytosis, Advanced systemic mastocytosis (aggressive SM, SM with an associated haematological neoplasm, mast cell leukaemia), Early-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma (stage I to II), Advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma (stage III to IV), Nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (nodular lymphocyte-predominant B-cell lymphoma), Relapsed and refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma
Treated as high-risk Burkitt lymphoma: short intensive chemotherapy with rituximab, methotrexate-based CNS prophylaxis and tumour lysis prevention.
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Query for this cancer: (TITLE:"Burkitt leukaemia" OR ABSTRACT:"Burkitt leukaemia" OR TITLE:"Burkitt leukemia" OR ABSTRACT:"Burkitt leukemia" OR TITLE:"Burkitt lymphoma/leukaemia" OR ABSTRACT:"Burkitt lymphoma/leukaemia" OR TITLE:"Mature B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia" OR ABSTRACT:"Mature B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia" OR TITLE:"B-ALL L3 retired FAB term" OR ABSTRACT:"B-ALL L3 retired FAB term" OR TITLE:"Burkitt leukaemia more than 25% marrow blasts" OR ABSTRACT:"Burkitt leukaemia more than 25% marrow blasts") AND (treatment OR therapy OR trial OR survival OR diagnosis). Results are unfiltered search hits about Burkitt leukaemia, not a curated reading list.
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Bleeding that will not stop, black or bloody stools, or unexplained bruising when platelets are expected to be low.
High-dose methotrexate requires normal renal function, hydration, urine alkalinisation and leucovorin rescue with level monitoring.
A shortage of antibodies because treatment has wiped out the B cells or plasma cells that make them, as CD19 CAR-T, CD20 antibodies and BCMA therapies deliberately do. It leaves patients prone to infections, sometimes for years, and is managed with immunoglobulin infusions.
Reactions around the moment a drug is given: chills, fever or breathlessness from antibodies (infusion reactions), true allergy (hypersensitivity, rarely anaphylaxis), and leakage of a damaging drug into tissue around the vein (extravasation).
See all on the product pages:CyclophosphamideMethotrexateRituximab·Printable cards in the navigator
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