A 7-year-old boy from West Africa presents with massive swelling of the jaw and a firm abdominal mass. Biopsy shows sheets of medium sized lymphoid cells with round nuclei, multiple small nucleoli, and a starry sky pattern created by interspersed macrophages. Which cytogenetic abnormality is characteristic?

• A t(8;14) translocation involving MYC and Ig heavy chain locus ✓
• B t(11;18) translocation involving API2 and MALT1
• C t(14;16) translocation involving Ig heavy chain and MAF
• D t(11;14) translocation involving cyclin D1 and Ig heavy chain locus

Explanation

Endemic Burkitt lymphoma presents as a jaw or facial bone tumor in African children and is strongly linked to Epstein Barr virus. Histology shows a starry sky pattern from benign macrophages engulfing apoptotic tumor cells. The hallmark is translocation of MYC on chromosome 8 to the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus on chromosome 14, driving constitutive MYC expression. The other translocations characterize MALT lymphoma, myeloma, and mantle cell lymphoma respectively.

Reference: Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 10th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.