The process may also be a key step in switching on cancers of the breast and colon. Burkitt's lymphoma is common in central Africa, most frequently striking children and causing large tumors in the abdomen or the jaw.
Early stages respond well to chemotherapy, but left alone, it progresses rapidly and is fatal.
Burkitt's lymphoma is not common in the United States. The research centers on a gene called m common to all cells. Yet in cancers such as Burldtt's lymphoma, cells behave as though the myc gene is permanently switched on. The researchers confirmed this using genetically engineered cell cultures containing isolated myc genes and plO7. What goes wrong, we believe, is that many Burkitt's lymphoma cases have mutations in the myc gene.