Injection of human herpesvirus-X in human skin engrafted on SCID mice induces Kaposi's sarcoma-like lesions

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) or human herpesvirus 8 (HHV- 8) has been implicated in the development of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and seve ral B-cell lymphoproliferative diseases. Serologic and molecular genetic as sociation data has implicated HHV-8 as the causal agent of KS, but its role in the development of KS lesions is not understood. To examine the etiolog y of KS, HHV-8 was injected into normal human skin transplanted onto SCID m ice. Injection of HHV-8 induced lesion formation that is morphologically an d phenotypically consistent with KS, including the presence of angiogenesis and spindle-shaped cells latently infected with HHV-8. These findings sugg est that HHV-8 is indeed the etiologic agent of KS, and that the virus play s an important role in initiation of this disease. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scienc e Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.