Single-cell transcriptomics of pediatric Burkitt lymphoma

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is the most frequent B-cell lymphoma in pediatric patients. While most patients are currently cured, a fraction of them are resistant to therapy. In order to investigate BL heterogeneity and the features distinguishing the non-responders (NR) to therapy, we analyzed pediatric EBV-negative BL specimens collected at diagnosis by single-cell (sc)-transcriptomics. Analysis of the non-tumor component revealed a predominance of immune cell infiltrates and a small representation of fibroblasts that was enriched in NR. Tumor cells displayed patient-specific features, as well as subpopulations that were common to most patients and expressed transcripts related to cell cycle, signaling pathways and cell-of-origin signatures. Paired single-cell transcriptomics and immunoglobulin repertoire analyses were performed on 12 sporadic EBV-negative BL specimens (11 patients), including 8 pleural or abdominal effusions and 4 nodal tumor masses, which were collected at diagnosis and frozen as viable single cell suspensions.