[2] Raji cells were derived from the B-lymphocytes of an 11-year-old Nigerian Burkitt lymphoma male patient in 1963 by R.J.V.
The cells are relatively small in diameter (5-8 μm), have irregular indented nuclei, and almost extensive cytoplasm with free ribosomes which tend to clump.
[5] Raji cells grow as single, non-motile, free-floating (non-adhesion) individuals or doublets to glass.
Translocations between chromosomes 8 and 22 have occurred in all three variations of the Raji cell line, but some cells synthesize immunoglobulin M with light chains of the kappa type, in contrast to the usual concordance between a translocation involving chromosome 22 and lambda chain synthesis.
The data also imply that in cells containing a translocation between the long arm of chromosome 8 and a chromosome bearing an immunoglobulin gene, alteration of cellular myc expression may occur regardless of the immunoglobulin gene that is expressed.