A Landscape of Immunogenomics Assessments for Endemic Burkitt Lymphoma: Relevance to Outcomes

Background/Aim: T-cell receptor recombination sequencing reads have been extracted from genomics files and have been characterized and correlated with patient outcomes for many different cancer types. Materials and Methods: An immunogenomics approach was applied to endemic Burkitt lymphoma (BL) utilizing the Cancer Genome Characterization Initiative – Burkitt Lymphoma Genome Sequencing Project (CGCI-BLGSP), focusing on TCR V- or J- gene segment, HLA allele combinations and anti-HIV CDR3s. Results: Results indicated that five TCR V- or J- gene segment, HLA allele combinations were associated with overall survival (OS) distinctions where the individual arms of the combinations were not associated with survival. Anti-HIV analyses indicated that those cases with an anti-HIV TRA CDR3 had a higher OS probability than those without (median OS not reached vs. 215 days; log-rank p=0.0013), and those with anti-HIV TRA and TRB CDR3s had better pathologic staging compared to those without. Conclusion: T-cell response leads to early control of progression of endemic BL.