US researchers have uncovered the role of Plasmodium falciparum -- a parasitic protozoan that causes malaria -- in the development of Burkitt lymphoma (BL), the most common childhood cancer.

BL is a cancer that affects B cells -- an important cell of the immune system that produces antibodies. It has been associated with P. falciparum malaria since 1958, but the underlying mechanism of how this leads to cancer has remained a mystery.