title: High Prevalence of Torque teno (TT) virus in classical Kaposi's sarcoma.
abstract: Human herpes virus 8 infection is the primary and necessary factor in the development of Kaposi's sarcoma, but is not sufficient per se to trigger the onset of the disease. In order to search for virological cofactors associated with the occurrence of the disease, we investigated the prevalence of active infection by two newly discovered viruses, hepatitis G virus and TT virus, among patients with classical Kaposi's sarcoma. Serum of 24 patients with Mediterranean Kaposi's sarcoma was investigated using polymerase chain reaction and compared with that of 68 healthy subjects. Cutaneous samples from patients with Kaposi's sarcoma and healthy subjects were investigated for TT virus DNA. No patient had serum markers for hepatitis G virus. TT virus DNA was present in the serum of 21/24 (87.5%) patients and 32/68 (47%) controls (p=0.002). TT virus DNA was present in the lesional skin of 5/18 patients with Kaposi's sarcoma (27.7%), but not in the skin of controls. TT virus might play a role as a cofactor in the clinical emergence of Kaposi's sarcoma in patients infected with Human herpes virus 8, perhaps by immunosuppressive effects or by a common transmission pathway for these two viruses.
authors.affiliation: Service de Dermatologie, Hopital Saint Eloi, CHU Montpellier, Laboratoire de Virologie, France. girard-drouard@tele2.fr
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Girard
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ottomani
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ducos
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dereure
authors.forename: Marie J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Carles
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Guillot
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004266:DNA Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D022783:Torque teno virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral