Cytogenetic study in six Spanish patients with Burkitt's lymphoma.

A cytogenetic study carried out on affected tissues of six children with Burkitt's lymphoma revealed five cases with a typical translocation (8q-; 14q+) and one with a variant t(2p-; 8q+). Additional cytogenetic variations were present in three cases. One had two acrocentric marker chromosomes comprised of material from chromosome #1 (1q21----q44) translocated to the Y gonosome. The other two cases had a cytogenetic alteration of chromosome #12. Cytogenetic studies carried out systematically in Burkitt's lymphoma could be a great help in possibly establishing differences in the biologic and clinical aspects of cases presenting with the t(8;14) versus cases with variant translocations, as this would allow for classification of these patients into groups which, at present, cannot be differentiated using other diagnostic methods.