HUMAN HERPESVIRUS-6 GENOMES IN HISTIOCYTIC NECROTIZING LYMPHADENITIS (KIKUCHIS DISEASE) AND OTHER FORMS OF LYMPHADENITIS

The cervical lymph nodes of 27 patients with histiocytic necrotizing l ymphadenitis (HNL) were examined, as were those of 9 patients with tub erculous lymphadenitis (Tb), 10 with reactive paracortical hyperplasia (RPH), and 10 with nonspecific lymphadenitis (NSL). Southern blot ana lysis, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and in situ hybridization were use to locate the human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) genome. Southern bl ot analysis showed that all cases were negative for HHV-6 genomes, alt hough all but one HNL case expressed HHV-6 genome using PCR. On in sit u hybridization all 10 HNL cases, 6 of the 10 RPH cases, 6 of the 10 N SL cases, and 2 of the 9 Tb cases showed HHV-6 DNA. These results indi cate that the presence of HHV-6 genome is not specifically related to HNL, and that this virus could hibernate in a latent form in the cervi cal lymph nodes. In addition, we examined three different primers (A, B, and C) for PCR amplification of HHV-6 genomes.