Burkitt's lymphoma with female karyotype in an African male child

Abstract

The chromosomes of a Burkitt lymphoma in a phenotypically male patient were followed in 6 fixations covering the entire clinical period from before treatment till the death of the patient 5 months later. All fixations showed female karyotype, the C group having 16 chromosomes and the G group 4 with the Y chromosome missing. The apparently female sex of the tumor was corroborated by autoradiography demonstrating one late replicating X chromosome. The possibility of cell contamination of the culture was ruled out by the presence through all fixations of a characteristic marker chromosome, one small G chromosome. The possible significance of this discrepancy between chromosomal sex of the tumor and of the patient is discussed in relation to other similar cases of Burkitt's lymphoma in the literature and in our own material.