Burkitt’s Lymphoma and Heredity

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Abstract
In previous reports by the author, evidence was presented to show that the common malignancies of childhood may be heritable disorders controlled by genes in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Furthermore, it has been shown that nephroblastomas are possibly index cancers which do not vary in relative frequency among different ethnic groups. Following on from this it is here argued that, if Burkitt’s lymphoma is also a heritable disorder in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with other malignancies, it should show the same equilibrium with nephroblastomas as do other malignancies, i.e. the relative frequency of nephroblastomas should be the same in Nigeria and Uganda as anywhere else in the world; Nigeria and Uganda being areas in which Burkitt’s lymphoma may form about 50% of all childhood neoplasms. A comparison of the relative frequency of nephroblastoma in these areas in fact shows it is not different from any other part of the world. The conclusion is that Burkitt’s lymphoma may also be a heritable disorder and the high incidence merely reflects the racial genetic make-up of the people in these areas.

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