Genetic subgroups inform on pathobiology in adult and pediatric Burkitt lymphoma
The second major Manuscript from the Burkitt Lymphoma Genome Sequencing Project has been published in Blood, 2023 Feb 23: 141(8):904-916. The Manuscript is entitled GENETIC SUBGROUPS INFORM ON PATHOBIOLOGY IN ADULT AND PEDIATRIC BURKITT LYMPHOMA. The Manuscript is dedicated to our dear friend and former colleague Dr. Daniela Gerhard.
As summarized, findings from the whole-genome sequencing analysis of 181 pediatric and 100 adult Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) cases, demonstrate both data sets share a common pathobiology with Epstein-Barr Virus, influencing the genetic and molecular profiles in both entities. Further, BL can be robustly divided into three genetic subgroups with distinct molecular underpinnings.
Accompanying the Manuscript is a commentary written by Dr. Adam J. Olszewshi, Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital. He is recognized as a world wide specialist of BL and he has established the Burkitt Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (BL-IP). Dr. Olszewski complemented the study and noted that future work in BL will require prospectively collected samples from patients who are uniformly treated in clinical trials in order to examine the prognostic impact of specific genomic alterations in BL, and the practical relevance of the subgroups.
The Foundation would like to extend our congratulations and sincere appreciation to all the authors and their teams for their tireless work in executing, conducting, collecting, sequencing and analyzing the data and developing the Manuscript. Special thanks to Ms. Nicole Thomas, Dr. Kostiantyn Dreval, Dr. David Scott, Dr. Lou Staudt and Dr. Ryan Moran. Dr. Gerhard would have been immensely proud of this important body of work.