ABSENCE OF HHV-8 DNA-SEQUENCES IN MALIGNANT MESOTHELIOMA

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) associated primary effusion lymphomas aris e and grow in the body cavities as effusions, but it is not known whet her the lining of body cavities and mesothelium derived malignancies a re potential targets of HHV-8 infection. We examined a series of 13 di ffuse malignant mesotheliomas and four mesothelial cell rich effusion samples of non-neoplastic aetiology from nonimmunodepressed patients u sing the polymerase chain reaction to detect HHV-8 specific sequences. HHV-8 amplification products were absent in diffuse malignant mesothe liomas and in nonneoplastic effusions samples. These results suggest t hat HHV-8 has a selective tropism among body cavity based tumours, bei ng confined to primary effusion lymphomas.