title: Kaposi's sarcoma in Morocco: a pathological study with immunostaining for human herpesvirus-8 LNA-1.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Maghreb region is considered to be an endemic area for classical Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) but the few published reports have focused on clinical descriptions. We report here the clinical, virological and pathological features of 26 KS cases, including 17 classic forms, eight epidemic forms and one case of post-transplant KS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Evidence of human herpesvirus (HHV)-8 infection was detected by serology, immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Antibodies directed against HHV-8 latent nuclear antigen (LNA-1/ORF73) were present in sera from all 26 KS cases and the ORF26 HHV-8 gene fragment was amplified from the tumour DNA of all patients. KS lesions that met the classical criteria for KS (spindle cells, positive endothelial markers) and were immunostained with the anti-LNA-1 marker, demonstrated typical granular intranuclear labelling of the spindle cells in all but one case of KS, in which very few spindle cells were present. Furthermore, whereas LNA-1 staining was largely confined to spindle cells in the late nodular stage, it was also observed in endothelial cells forming the walls of slit-like vessels in early patch-stage lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirms that Morocco is an endemic area for classical KS, which remains the most frequent type of KS in this country, and emphasises the value of the LNA-1 marker for the early diagnosis of KS lesions.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche et d'Expertise en Histotechnologie et Pathologie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Oumkaltoum
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hbid
authors.forename: Lamia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Belloul
authors.forename: Noura
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fajali
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ismaili
authors.forename: Renan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duprez
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanguy
authors.forename: Hakima
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Benomar
authors.forename: El Hassane
authors.initials: el H
authors.lastname: Tahri
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gessain
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huerre
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000378:metabolism; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009018:Morocco / Q000453:epidemiology; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; C118485:latent nuclear antigen (LNA)