title: Human herpesvirus 8 encodes a homolog of interleukin-6.
abstract: Kaposi's sarcoma is a multifocal lesion that is reported to be greatly influenced by cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and oncostatin M. DNA sequences of a novel human gammaherpesvirus, termed human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) or Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, have been identified in all epidemiological forms of Kaposi's sarcoma with high frequency. The presence of HHV-8 DNA is also clearly associated with certain B-cell lymphomas (body cavity-based lymphomas) and multicentric Castleman's disease. Sequence analysis of a 17-kb fragment revealed that adjacent to a block of conserved herpesvirus genes (major DNA-binding protein, glycoprotein B, and DNA polymerase), the genome of HHV-8 encodes structural homolog of IL-6. This cytokine is involved not only in the pathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma but also in certain B-cell lymphomas and multicentric Castleman's disease. The viral counterpart of IL-6 (vIL-6) has conserved important features such as cysteine residues involved in disulfide bridging or an amino-terminal signal peptide. Most notably, the region known to be involved in receptor binding is highly conserved in vIL-6. This conservation of essential features and the remarkable overlap between diseases associated with HHV-8 and diseases associated with IL-6 disregulation clearly suggest that vIL-6 is involved in HHV-8 pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Klinische und Molekulare Virologie, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany. neipel@viro.med.uni-erlangen.de
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Neipel
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Albrecht
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ensser
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Friedman-Kien
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fleckenstein
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015850:Interleukin-6