ONCOGENESIS IN HIV-INFECTION - KSHV AND KAPOSIS-SARCOMA

The presence of human Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus-like seq uences (KSHV) was examined in different epidemiological variants of Ka posi's sarcoma (KS) and in KS-derived cell cultures by polymerase chai n reaction (PCR). KSHV DNA was present in all tumor biopsies of AIDS-a ssociated KS (59 biopsies), endemic KS (26 biopsies; 21 African endemi c KS, 5 Greek endemic KS), sporadic/classical KS (28 biopsies) and pos t-transplant/iatrogenic KS (6 of 7 biopsies). On the contrary, these s equences were only detected rarely in non-involved skin of KS patients (3 positive specimens of 12), in the peripheral blood mononuclear cel ls of HIV-infected patients (3 positive specimens of 54) and in lympho ma-biopsies (3 positive specimens of 47). Cell cultures derived from K S skin lesions were positive for KSHV DNA only in the first two passag es. However, two longer-term positive cultures from a biopsy of a pati ent affected with sporadic KS and a biopsy of a patient affected with epidemic KS was identified. A strong association of KSHV with KS tissu e was observed in all the different epidemiological variants of KS. Lo ng-term positive KS-derived cell cultures will be an important tool to study the herpesvirus-like agent and to investigate its functional ro le in the initiation and progression of KS.