Concurrent translocation of BCL2 and MYC with a single immunoglobulin locus in high-grade B-cell lymphomas.

B-cell leukaemia or lymphoma with a combination of t(8;14)(q24;q32) of Burkitt leukaemia/lymphoma and t(14;18)(q32;q21) of follicular lymphoma may present clinically as de novo acute lymphoblastic leukaemia or transformation of follicular lymphoma to aggressive histology diffuse lymphoma. A number of cell lines have been reported with a complex t(8;14;18) with fusion of MYC, IGH and BCL2 on the same derivative 8 chromosome. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and chromosomal features of this der(8)t(8;14;18) in a series of acute leukaemias and malignant lymphomas. A database of 1350 leukaemia and lymphoma karyotypes was searched for cases with structural alterations affecting both 8q24 and 18q21. A total of 55 cases were identified, of which eight revealed a complex der(8)t(8;14;18) with an MYC-IGH-BCL2 rearrangement resulting from translocation of BCL2 and MYC with a single disrupted IGH allele. Molecular cytogenetic investigation is essential to identify cases of high-grade leukaemia/lymphoma with concurrent translocations affecting the BCL2 and MYC loci.