The etiology of Burkitt's lymphoma and the history of the shaken dogmas

Abstract

The etiology of Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) includes three factors which operate in a stepwise fashion: (1) the ubiquitous Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) which possesses oncogenic potential when it infects infants or very young children; (2) malaria which specifically depresses cytotoxic T cell clones controlling the polyclonal proliferation of EBV-infected B cells in the host; and (3) chromosomal translocations activating the c-myc oncogene which in turn induces uncontrolled B cell proliferation. The unravelling of such a multistep carcinogenic process has shaken a number of well-established dogmas of our time.