Jumping translocations of 1q in Burkitt lymphoma and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia

"Jumping translocations" have been observed mostly in cultured cells. Reports of such translocations in hematologic malignancies are few, and the associated clinical picture is unclear. We report three cases of hematologic malignancies with various unbalanced translocations (so-called jumping translocation) involving trisomy of the long arm of chromosome 1. The first case was a 13-year-old boy with Burkitt lymphoma who showed a very aggressive clinical course. The second case was a 10-month-old girl with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia [ANNL, French-American-British (FAB) classification M0] who had high risk factors, including hyperleukocytosis with a peripheral white blood cell (WBC) count of 300,000/microliters, and who died 7 months after diagnosis. The third case was a 6-year-old boy with Burkitt-like leukemia whose first remission lasted only 1 month. Only 10 cases with jumping translocations, including two cases with Burkitt-like leukemia/lymphoma, have been reported previously. This rare phenomenon may occur with increased frequency in Burkitt-like leukemia/lymphoma and may be an adverse prognostic factor.