Danish patients with untreated multiple myeloma do not harbour human herpesvirus 8

The role of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) in multiple myeloma (MM) remains co ntroversial. We examined 15 Danish MM patients before cytoreductive therapy , Mononuclear cells isolated from peripheral blood and bone marrow aspirate s, as well as long-term cultured bone marrow stromal cells, were assayed fo r the presence of HHV-8 DNA. All material was tested by three simple unnest ed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays (amplifying regions of ORF26. ORF K1 and ORF75) and two nested PCR assays (amplifying regions of ORF26). HHV- 8 was not demonstrated in any of the samples, Our findings do not suggest a n association between HHV-8 and MM in the Danish population.