Abstract
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common pediatric cancer. Within ALL, precursor B-cell disease predominates and now has survival >90%. Mature B-cell, or Burkitt leukemia/lymphoma, is distinct from ALL and requires short intensive chemotherapy and with the addition of Rituximab, survival rates of >95% are achieved. Its defining characteristic is MYC translocation at 8q24. Patients who have features of both ALL and Burkitt leukemia/lymphoma represent a rare subpopulation of ALL and present a diagnostic and treatment conundrum. We have performed a systematic review on the occurrence of and treatment of MYC positive precursor B-ALL, reported between 1980 and 2016. The review highlighted a lack of data to guide any consensus about how to treat this important group of children and focused research in this area is needed.
Potential conflict of interest
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2017.1387914.