DETECTION OF HUMAN HERPES-VIRUS-8 (HHV8) IN KAPOSI-SARCOMA OF THE GASTROINTESTINAL-TRACT

Involvement of Kaposi's sarcoma in the gastrointestinal tract is commo n in AIDS patients. The disease is, however, usually asymptomatic and, due to the tumor growth primarily in the submucosa, biopsy diagnosis is possible in under 25%. The recently described human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) is closely associated with all forms of Kaposi's sarcoma. Detec tion of HHV8 in the tissue samples may therefore improve the diagnosis of gastrointestinal Kaposi's sarcoma. In the present study we analyze autopsy samples of tumor and non-tumor tissue from the gastrointestin al tract in patients with and without Kaposi's sarcoma for the presenc e of HHV8 DNA using a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. HH V8 DNA was present in all 15 tissues with Kaposi's sarcoma. In contras t, HHV8 DNA was present only in 3 (18.8%) of 16 gastrointestinal tissu es of patients with Kaposi's sarcoma but without histologically detect able tumor. No HHV8 DNA was present in 15 tissue samples of AIDS patie nts without Kaposi's sarcoma. Our data show that detection of HHV8 DNA using a nested PCR assay is a highly sensitive and specific diagnosti c test for Kaposi's sarcoma in autopsy tissue samples from the gastroi ntestinal tract. It should therefore be possible to use detection of H HV8 DNA in biopsy material as an assay for the diagnosis of Kaposi's s arcoma.