Disease Briefing

Burkitt lymphoma: research and therapeutic landscape

A live synthesis of what is being targeted, what is being trialled, which datasets exist, and where the actionable gaps sit — assembled from public APIs, with every figure traceable to its source.

Generated 2026-09-17Sources Open Targets · ClinicalTrials.gov · openFDA · GEO · PubMed · Europe PMC · iCite · RePORTERRanked 73 studies · 2,482 GEO samples
Reading as
Reorders emphasis only — nothing is hidden or loaded on demand.

Answer block

12 genes recurrently implicated in Burkitt lymphoma — MYC, TCF3, ID3, CCND3, TP53, DDX3X, SMARCA4, ARID1A, FOXO1, CD19, MS4A1, FBXO11 — triaged for what can actually be aimed at them, alongside the trials, public datasets, literature and funding around the disease. Every figure below carries its source and retrieval date in the section it comes from.

1
drugs carry an FDA label naming Burkitt lymphoma: Rituximab. This counts labels, not treatment — the disease is also treated with agents approved under broader indications
1
of the 12 genes above carry a drug that is approved in Burkitt lymphoma itself — MS4A1. Across all of them 41 drug entries reach these genes, 40 distinct once salt forms are merged
102
registered CD19 cell-therapy trials in Burkitt lymphoma, 50 active and 7 withdrawn. Counted from ClinicalTrials.gov across 6 synonyms, deduplicated by NCT id, interventional studies only — the query is published in the JSON beside this page so the number can be re-derived
10
targets carry an Open Targets tractability signal and have no clinical programme of any kind: MYC, TCF3, ID3, CCND3, TP53, DDX3X, SMARCA4, ARID1A, FOXO1, FBXO11. CD19, MS4A1 have cell-therapy trials, so they are undrugged rather than untouched
402
human GEO series match the disease; 73 survive on-topic filtering, and only 2 are patient cohorts of 100+ samples
127
Europe PMC full-text papers name GSE4475 — the highest accession-mention count in the set. A mention is not proof of reanalysis, so read it as reach rather than reuse
$2.8M
NIH obligations in FY2025, up -64% since 2013 — while distinct core projects went 11 to 7. Larger awards rather than more distinct core projects; core projects are not the same unit as laboratories

Target landscape

Open Targets · retrieved 2026-09-17 · weekly

12 genes recurrently implicated in Burkitt lymphoma, triaged for whether anything can actually be aimed at them. The zeros are the informative rows.

Of 12 recurrently implicated genes, 3 carry any drug at all. That is a statement about these 12 gene targets, not about the disease: Burkitt lymphoma does have labelled therapy — 1 drugs, listed in the next section.

Two different questions

The table below asks what can be aimed at 12 recurrently implicated genes. That is narrower than what is approved for the disease, and narrower again than what Burkitt lymphoma is actually treated with, which includes agents approved under broader indications. All three are on this page and they are kept apart deliberately.

GeneDrugsApproval, and whether it reached this diseaseOpen Targets tractabilitycomputed from protein features and literature — a signal that a modality is worth trying, not evidence that it worksCell therapy here
MYC across cancers → 0 No drug protein degrader, small molecule
TCF3 0 No drug protein degrader
ID3 0 No drug protein degrader
CCND3 0 No drug protein degrader, small molecule
TP53 across cancers → 8 Phase 3Alrizomadlin, Cenersen, Contusugene Ladenovec, Eprenetapopt, Idasanutlin, Navtemadlin, Siremadlin, TeprasiranNo Burkitt lymphoma trial of any of these drugs other clinical modality, protein degrader, small molecule
DDX3X across cancers → 0 No drug antibody, protein degrader, small molecule
SMARCA4 0 No drug protein degrader, small molecule
ARID1A across cancers → 0 No drug protein degrader
FOXO1 across cancers → 0 No drug protein degrader, small molecule
CD19 across cancers → 14 9 approvedAxicabtagene Ciloleucel, Blinatumomab, Brexucabtagene Autoleucel, Inebilizumab, Lisocabtagene Maraleucel, Loncastuximab Tesirine, Obecabtagene Autoleucel, Tafasitamab, TisagenlecleucelApproved in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 6 other indications. No Burkitt lymphoma indication appears on these drugs’ labels.43 active of 68 Burkitt lymphoma trials antibody, other clinical modality, protein degrader 50 active of 102 trials
MS4A1 across cancers → 18 11 approvedEpcoritamab, Glofitamab, Mosunetuzumab, Obinutuzumab, Ocrelizumab, Odronextamab, Ofatumumab, Rituximab, Tositumomab, Ublituximab, Yttrium Y 90 Ibritumomab TiuxetanApproved in Burkitt lymphoma: Rituximab.31 active of 156 Burkitt lymphoma trials antibody, other clinical modality, protein degrader, small molecule 5 active of 9 trials
FBXO11 0 No drug protein degrader

Dataset evidence counts studies in the 73-study ranked set whose title or abstract names the gene; the bar is scaled to MYC. Sources: Open Targets Platform and NCBI GEO, retrieved 2026-09-17. Clinical stage is the highest reached for any indication — see the per-drug indications noted in each row. Target-prioritisation reference only; not clinical or prescribing guidance.

What is actually approved here

openFDA drug labels · weekly

1 drug carries an FDA label naming Burkitt lymphoma: Rituximab. Separately, 19 of the drugs returned for the genes in the table above are approved only for other diseases and reach Burkitt lymphoma through trials, not through their labels.

1Labelled for Burkitt lymphomaFDA INDICATIONS AND USAGE names the disease
19Approved, but for another diseasereturned for the genes in the table above
1Backbone agents listing itbroad cytotoxics whose labels name many tumours
50Active CD19 cell-therapy trialsof 102 registered

Every label that names Burkitt lymphoma

DrugRoleWhat the label says
RituximabRituxanLabelled herePreviously untreated, advanced stage, CD20-positive, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), Burkitt lymphoma (BL), Burkitt-like lymphoma (BLL) or mature B-cell acute leukemia (B-AL) in combination with chemotherapy.
CyclophosphamideCYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE, Cyclophosphamide, FrindovyxBackboneCyclophosphamide is an alkylating drug indicated for treatment of: Malignant Diseases: malignant lymphomas: Hodgkin's disease, lymphocytic lymphoma, mixed-cell type lymphoma, histiocytic lymphoma, Burkitt's lymphoma; multiple myeloma, leukemias, mycosis fungoides, neuroblastoma, adenocarcinoma of ovary, retinoblastoma, breast carcinoma

2 labels match indications_and_usage:"Burkitt lymphoma" OR indications_and_usage:"Burkitt's lymphoma" OR indications_and_usage:"Burkitt"; they collapse to 2 distinct molecules once salt forms, biosimilars and co-formulated hyaluronidase are merged. Source: openFDA drug label API (api.fda.gov/drug/label.json), retrieved 2026-09-17. Labels change; this reflects the current label text, not the approval history. Not prescribing guidance.

Cell therapy against CD19

ClinicalTrials.gov · retrieved 2026-09-17 · weekly

CD19 is the busiest cell-therapy antigen in Burkitt lymphoma: 102 registered trials, 50 still active, 7 withdrawn before enrolling anyone.

TrialPhaseStatusTitleLast update
NCT047462092RecruitingBlinatumomab After TCR Alpha Beta/CD19 Depleted HCT2021-09-17
NCT056480192RecruitingCD19-Directed Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy for Relapsed/Refractory B-Lineage Leukaemia / Lymphoma - A Feasibility Protocol2023-03-09
NCT060814782RecruitingCD19/CD22 Bispecific CAR-T Cell Therapy for Relapsed/Refractory B-cell Lymphoma or Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia2023-10-13
NCT066353301/2RecruitingSafety and Efficacy of CAR T Cell Therapy in Patients with R/r B-ALL2024-10-10
NCT067354951/2RecruitingCD19 & CD22 Bispecific CAR T Cells in the Treatment of Relapsed/Refractory B Cell Hematologic Tumors2024-12-16
NCT050542571RecruitingCART19 Cells Effects in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma2025-01-06
NCT052818092RecruitingLocal Manufacture of CAR T-Cell Products for the Treatment of B-Cell Lymphoma and B-Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia2025-01-13
NCT061795242RecruitingCAR-T-19 Injection in the Treatment of CD19-positive Relapsed/Refractory B-ALL2025-01-13
NCT06793241EARLY/1RecruitingDonor Derived CD19 CAR-T Cells in the Treatment of R/R B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia2025-01-27
NCT06581081no phaseRecruitingBridging Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation or Not After CD19 CAR - T (S1904) Cell Therapy for r/r B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia2025-03-12

10 of 102 shown, most recently active first. Other antigens searched: CD22 (31), CD20 (9), methotrexate-cytarabine (3). Source: ClinicalTrials.gov API v2, retrieved 2026-09-17. Trials are matched on the antigen named in the title or intervention, so a trial stating only a product code is missed.

Research momentum

PubMed MeSH · monthly

Every term below is a share of the Burkitt lymphoma literature, not a count, because the field itself grew: 2015–2018 (n=427) against 2021–2025 (n=597). A topic whose papers doubled while the field doubled has not risen.

Rising, with a real baseline

MeSH term2015–182021–25ChangeShare now
Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma1.87%21.78%11.62×130 papers
Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma1.87%14.91%7.96×89 papers
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation1.17%5.86%5.01×35 papers
Recurrence1.87%6.03%3.22×36 papers
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local1.87%4.36%2.32×26 papers
Lymphoma, B-Cell3.04%6.37%2.09×38 papers
Prognosis6.32%11.39%1.8×68 papers
Mutation2.34%4.19%1.79×25 papers
Epstein-Barr Virus Infections6.79%10.72%1.58×64 papers
Chromosome Aberrations2.34%3.18%1.36×19 papers

Cooling

MeSH term2015–182021–25ChangeShare now
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc8.2%2.01%0.25×12 papers
Tomography, X-Ray Computed8.9%2.35%0.26×14 papers
Antineoplastic Agents8.9%3.35%0.38×20 papers
Apoptosis13.11%5.36%0.41×32 papers
Signal Transduction7.03%3.18%0.45×19 papers
Treatment Outcome11.24%5.19%0.46×31 papers

Biggest topics now

MeSH term2015–182021–25ChangeShare now
Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma1.87%21.78%11.62×130 papers
Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma1.87%14.91%7.96×89 papers
Herpesvirus 4, Human8.9%11.73%1.32×70 papers
Prognosis6.32%11.39%1.8×68 papers
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols17.8%11.22%0.63×67 papers
Epstein-Barr Virus Infections6.79%10.72%1.58×64 papers
Receptors, Chimeric Antigen0.0%9.05%90453.26×54 papers
Antigens, CD190.94%8.04%8.58×48 papers
Immunotherapy, Adoptive0.94%8.04%8.58×48 papers
Lymphoma, B-Cell3.04%6.37%2.09×38 papers

Publication mix

Type2015–182021–25
Randomized Controlled Trial0.2%0.0%
Review7.7%7.5%
Meta-Analysis0.2%0.3%
Case Reports0.0%3.9%

Query: Burkitt Lymphoma[MeSH Major Topic] NOT ("Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse"[MeSH] OR "Lymphoma, Follicular"[MeSH] OR "Lymphoma, Mantle-Cell"[MeSH] OR "Hodgkin Disease"[MeSH] OR "Infectious Mononucleosis"[MeSH]). Terms need at least 12 papers in the recent window and, in the rising table, at least 5 in the earlier one — a term going from 1 paper to 12 is a large fold change and no evidence of anything. Ubiquitous descriptors (Humans, Animals, age bands) and the disease’s own term are dropped. Source: PubMed MeSH, retrieved 2026-09-17.

Disease burden

What the public sources count, and how closely each category matches this disease. The same figures for every disease on the site are on one table.

MeasureValueMatchWhat it counts
New cases each year79,320 cases/yearproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2026
Deaths each year19,970 deaths/yearproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2026
Incidence rate18.7 cases per 100,000 per yearproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2019-2023
Death rate4.8 deaths per 100,000 per yearproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2020-2024
People living with it872,940 people living with the diseaseproxycounts non-hodgkin lymphoma, which is broader than this disease; 2023
New cases each yearnot publishedSEER publishes no subtype page for Burkitt lymphoma; the American Cancer Society gives a share of adult lymphomas as a range ("only about 1% to 2%") and says only that it is "more common in children". No count is published.
Deaths each yearnot publishedNot published for the subtype.
Five-year relative survivalnot publishedNot published for the subtype by SEER or the American Cancer Society; the page says the disease "can be cured by intensive chemotherapy".
Median age at diagnosisnot publishedNot published; the page says the disease is "much more common in males than in females" and more common in children.

Years of life lost: not computed. Years of life lost needs survival, age at diagnosis and a case count. five_year_relative_survival, median_age_at_diagnosis, incident cases is not recorded for this disease.

Funding

NIH RePORTER · quarterly

NIH obligations naming Burkitt lymphoma, after removing the 3,758 records across all years that matched the search but are about something else. That filter is not cosmetic: without it this section reports another field’s funding as this disease’s.

$2.8MNIH obligations, FY2025from $7.6M in FY2013 · -64%
7distinct projects funded11 in FY2013
$12.4Mpeak year was FY2023obligations, all institutes
100%of FY2025 awards from NCI8 of 8

NIH obligations by fiscal year

$3M$6M$9M$12M13151719212325
YearObligationsAwardsDistinct projectsDropped as off-topic
FY2013$7.6M1111308
FY2014$6.0M99306
FY2015$5.7M88291
FY2016$3.4M66286
FY2017$3.8M99271
FY2018$5.3M1110280
FY2019$4.3M99303
FY2020$3.6M77295
FY2021$5.9M98289
FY2022$4.9M88285
FY2023$12.4M108289
FY2024$5.9M109273
FY2025$2.8M87282

Where FY2025 money went

InstitutionObligationsAwards
Univ Of North Carolina Chapel Hill$1.1M2
University Of Pennsylvania$0.5M1
University Of Wisconsin-Madison$0.4M1
Johns Hopkins University$0.3M2
Division Of Cancer Epidemiology And Genetics$0.3M1
University Of Florida$0.2M1

Text search Burkitt lymphoma over project title, terms and abstract, per fiscal year. Awards are individual funding actions; distinct projects collapse them by core project number, so a multi-year grant counts once. The most recent year may be incomplete. Source: NIH RePORTER, retrieved 2026-09-17.

Who funds it, FY2025

The total says how much. These say who from, through what kind of award, and to whom — which a dollar figure cannot.

NIH institutes

NCI8 · 100%

Projects by administering institute. The rows above are the top 1 and account for 8 of 8.

Award mechanisms

U013 · 38%
P013 · 38%
R011 · 12%
ZIA1 · 12%

R01 is an investigator-initiated grant; ZIA is NIH intramural, meaning the work happens inside NIH rather than being funded outside it. The rows above are the top 4 and account for 8 of 8.

Where it lands

Univ Of North Carolina Chapel Hill$1.1M · 38.8%
University Of Pennsylvania$0.5M · 16.5%
University Of Wisconsin-Madison$0.4M · 14.9%
Johns Hopkins University$0.3M · 11.9%
Division Of Cancer Epidemiology And Gene$0.3M · 10.2%
University Of Florida$0.2M · 7.7%

Share of $2.8M in FY2025. The top three hold 70%.

Public datasets, ranked

NCBI GEO + Europe PMC + iCite · weekly

402 human GEO series match Burkitt lymphoma. Keyword relevance cannot tell a 303-sample patient cohort from a six-well cell-line experiment, so this ranking scores four things GEO does not expose: how often the accession is named in full-text papers, field-normalised citation impact, clinical annotation, and cohort type.

Composition of the 73-study ranked set

cell line 39unspecified 19patient 10mixed 5
39 cell line19 unspecified10 patient5 mixed55 carry clinical annotation8 carry survival2 patient cohorts ≥100 GEO samples2,482 GEO samples totalin 1 single-cell series a GEO sample is one cell, not one patient

Established

high reuse, older
AccessionStudySamplesMentionsEurope PMCRCREvidence
GSE4475A Biologic Definition of Burkitt's Lymphoma from Transcriptional and Genomic Profiling2006 · array22112713.8
APT 0.95survivalmolecularMYC723 cites
GSE4732Expression Data from Burkitt Lymphoma Patients2006 · array3032211.7
patient cohortAPT 0.95614 cites
GSE35163Burkitt Lymphoma Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Targets from Structural and Functional Genomics2012 · array32016.0
patient cohortAPT 0.95survivalmolecularCCND3EBVID3704 cites
GSE44164Biologic characterization of adult MYC-positive mature B-cell lymphomas other than molecular Burkitt lymphoma2013 · array3223.8
patient cohortAPT 0.95survivalmolecularMYC144 cites
GSE4086Hypoxia responsive genes in human Burkitt’s lymphoma cell line, P493-6.2006 · array41068.8
cell lineAPT 0.53,143 cites
GSE73887Identification of MEF2B, EBF1, and IL6R as chromosome bound targets of EBNA1 essential for EBV infected B-lymphocyte survival2015 · chromatin1272.3
patient cohortAPT 0.25survivalmolecularEBV75 cites
GSE48435The genetic landscape of mutations in Burkitt lymphoma2013 · array21110.6
APT 0.95molecularARID1AID3MYC470 cites
GSE26673Expression data from Burkitt lymphoma cases2011 · array16102.5
patient cohortAPT 0.596 cites

Recent

2022 onward, by score
AccessionStudySamplesMentionsEurope PMCRCREvidence
GSE292690DNA methylation epitypes of Burkitt lymphoma with distinct molecular and clinical features2025 · methylation23712.1
patient cohortAPT 0.25survivalmolecularEBVEPSTEIN-BARR7 cites
GSE240252Single-cell transcriptomics of pediatric Burkitt lymphoma2024 · single-cell3012.6
patient cohortAPT 0.5molecularEBV10 cites
GSE286028Subtyping Burkitt Lymphoma by DNA Methylation2025 · methylation11312.8
cell lineAPT 0.5molecularCCND3EBVEPSTEIN-BARR10 cites
GSE252974MYC-rearranged aggressive B-cell lymphoma are molecularly Burkitt Lymphoma despite of morphology.2024 · array3511.1
APT 0.75molecularMYC10 cites
GSE228178Transcriptomic analysis of LMP1 TES domain single or double mutant in EBV-negative Akata Burkitt Lymphoma Cells2023 · sequencing2421.6
cell lineAPT 0.05molecularEBV17 cites
GSE206824circRNA microarray of the Epstein-Barr virus positive Burkitt's lymphoma cell line Akata2022 · array614.5
cell lineAPT 0.25molecularEBVEPSTEIN-BARR43 cites

Sources: NCBI GEO + Europe PMC + iCite, retrieved 2026-09-17. SubSeries are collapsed to one row per study by linked PMID. Of 402 series retrieved, 103 were dropped by the profile’s exclusion rules and 216 named the disease only in passing. The ranked set is a relevance-ranked sample, not a census, so the composition figures describe the sample only.

Where the gaps are

Derived from the sections above · recomputed on every refresh

Each card below is a disagreement between two of the tables on this page — a drug that exists but was never tried here, a target that looks tested and was not, a gene with no drug whose product has a busy clinical programme. They are computed from the same facts as the tables, so they cannot contradict them.

MYC

No drug in any database targets MYC, while 10 trials target MYC. A gene-centric search finds nothing here and concludes wrongly.

TCF3

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

ID3

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

CCND3

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

DDX3X

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

SMARCA4

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

ARID1A

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

FOXO1

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

FBXO11

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

How a machine reads this page

Static

This page is written to be quoted correctly by a model as much as read by a person. The same facts are available as JSON at the sibling URL below, which is what to cite. The cross-disease layer — burden, genes, drugs and antigens across every briefing — is described at /disease/api.json.

Fully server-rendered

Every figure is in the HTML at first byte. No JavaScript runs, no figure is fetched after load, and nothing on this page requires a renderer to see.

Every number carries a source

Each section names the API it came from and the date it was retrieved: Open Targets (2026-09-17), ClinicalTrials.gov (2026-09-17), openFDA (2026-09-17), NCBI GEO (2026-09-17), PubMed (2026-09-17), NIH RePORTER (2026-09-17).

Negatives stated explicitly

Where nothing exists for Burkitt lymphoma — no drug, no trial, no approval — the page says so in those words rather than omitting the row. An absent row is unquotable; a stated negative is the finding.

Denominators, not just percentages

Every share is printed with the count and the total it came from, so a figure can be checked rather than taken.

The filters are published

6 exclusion patterns are applied to free text before anything is ranked, because Raji, Ramos, Daudi, BJAB, Namalwa, Akata (the B-cell lines of immunology) is used as a model system in B-cell receptor signalling, EBV virology, antibody and CAR-T cytotoxicity assays -- Raji and Daudi are the standard target cells. What was removed and why is stated in each section rather than silently applied.

{
  "disease": "Burkitt lymphoma",
  "mesh": "Burkitt Lymphoma",
  "facts": "https://usebiotransfer.org/disease/burkitt-lymphoma.json",
  "methods": "https://usebiotransfer.org/methods/",
  "all_diseases": "https://usebiotransfer.org/disease/api.json",
  "note": "Every figure on the page is in that JSON with its source and retrieval date. Quote from it rather than from the HTML."
}