title: Relationship between human herpesvirus 8 loads and disease stage in classic Kaposi sarcoma patients.
abstract: Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), also known as Kaposi sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus, is causally implicated in all forms of KS, including the classic form. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between HHV-8 load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and the stage of the disease in classic KS (CKS) patients. HHV-8 loads were measured in 41 PBMC samples from CKS patients with different Krigel-based classification stages using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. Low HHV-8 DNA loads reaching a maximum of 75.5 copies/10(5) cells were detected in 73.2% of the patients. HHV-8 loads in patients with stages I and II were similarly distributed. An increased detection rate of HHV-8 DNA, although not statistically significant, was evident in patients diagnosed with CKS stages III and IV. We conclude that the measurements of HHV-8 load in PBMCs provide a limited correlation with the clinical stage of KS.
authors.affiliation: The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guttman-Yassky
authors.forename: Rinat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abada
authors.forename: Zipi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kra-Oz
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sattinger
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perelman
authors.forename: Reuven
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bergman
authors.forename: Ronit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sarid
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral