Aggressive B-cell lymphoma cases with 11q aberration patterns indicate a spectrum beyond Burkitt-like lymphoma.

The recent characterization of a group of non-MYC rearranged aggressive B-cell-lymphomas, resembling Burkitt lymphoma (BL), characteristically harboring a telomeric 11q-loss or combined 11q-proximal gains/loss-pattern has led to the introduction of the provisional entity of Burkitt-like lymphoma with 11q aberration (BLL-11q). Prompted by the discovery of a telomeric 11q-loss in an HIV-positive high-grade B-cell lymphoma patient, we investigated an extended cohort of aggressive B-cell-lymphomas, enriched for cases with histopathological features intermediate between DLBCL and BL including double- and triple-hit lymphomas (n = 47), for 11q-loss/combined 11q-proximal gains/loss-pattern by fluorescence-in-situ-hybridization. We provide first evidence that 11q-aberrations can be found in both BLL in the context of an underlying HIV-infection as well as in high-grade B-cell-lymphomas (HGBL) with MYC, BCL2 and/or BCL6 rearrangements. We therefore propose, that the clinicopathological spectrum of malignancies carrying this aberration may be broader than previously assumed.