At the beginning of our careers, each of us has the dream of someday making a discovery that will change the way our respective disciplines regard something we now regard as fact. Denis Parsons Burkitt was able to change the course of our thinking twice in his career. More remarkably, the two discov eries were, to the casual observer, in widely different fields of study, i.e., the elucidation o...

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogenous entity with many prognostic ancillary tests that are based on immunohistochemistry. These include cell-of-origin determination by the Hans criteria and “double expresser” characterization. Additionally, MYC fluorescence in situ hybridization required to distinguish DLBCL from its morphologically similar counterpart, hit lymphoma” or high-g...

Reduced levels of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27(Kip1) connote poor prognosis in cancer. In human Burkitt lymphoma and in precancerous B cells and lymphomas arising in Emu-Myc transgenic mice, p27(Kip1) expression is markedly reduced. We show that the transcription of the Cks1 component of the SCF(Skp2) complex that is necessary for p27(Kip1) ubiquitylation and degradation is induced...

In 1964, a new herpesvirus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), was discovered in cultured tumor cells derived from a Burkitt lymphoma (BL) biopsy taken from an African patient. This was a momentous event that reinvigorated research into viruses as a possible cause of human cancers. Subsequent studies demonstrated that EBV was a potent growth-transforming agent for primary B cells, and that all cases of ...