Review Article

Burkitt Lymphoma: Pathogenesis and Immune Evasion

Table 1

Factors may contribute to the defects in immune recognition of BL cells.

FactorCells AffectedFunction(s)/defect(s) in Immune Evasion

EBNA1 > 90% eBLNegative regulation of own mRNA translation [64]
5–10% sBLInternal gly-ala repeat blocks proteasomal degradation and consequent
40% HIV associated BLHLA class I presentation [63]

C-mycAll BLDownregulation of HLA class I [30]
Antagonism of NF- 𝜅 B pathway
Negative regulation of STAT1 signaling
Impairment of interferon response [59]
Downregulation of accessory molecules important in immune response: LFA-1, LFA-3, ICAM-1, and TAP [8690]

HLA class IAll BLDown-regulated in BL [7174]
Downregulation of CD80/86 in BL decreases HLA class I signaling

HLA class IIAll BLDownregulation of CD80/86 in BL decreases HLA class II signaling
Upregulation of HLA-DO causes decrease in formation of class
II/peptide complexes [91, 92]
BLAIM may impair functional Ag
presentation by HLA class II (unpublished data).