TITLE:
The Role of Human Herpesvirus 8 Molecular Characterization in the Management of HIV Infected Patients Diagnosed with Malignancies Associated with Its Infection
AUTHORS:
Martínez Pedro Ariel, Kourí Vivian, Blanco Orestes, Capó Virginia, Abad Yoandra, Alemán Yoan, Verdasquera Denis, Jiménez Narciso, Caballero Iraida, Fleites Gilberto, Ugarte Yaumara, Calderón Odalys, Álvarez Alina, Ulrich Hengge
KEYWORDS:
Human Herpesvirus 8 or Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus; Real Time PCR; Subtypes; Lymphoproliferative Disorders; Cuban; HIV/AIDS
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of AIDS,
Vol.3 No.3,
September
5,
2013
ABSTRACT: Despite the progress has been reached with Human
herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) research, there are gaps in the knowledge of viral induced oncogenesis. The aim of
the present study was to identify possible associations between HHV-8 subtypes,
HHV-8 loads and clinical manifestations of HIV infected patients diagnosed with
different malignancies associated with HHV-8 infection. Forty six HIV-1
infected individuals diagnosed with different HHV-8 associated diseases were
studied [37 epidemic Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), 3 pleural effusion lymphoma (PEL); 5 peripheral lymphadenopathies
(PL); 1 Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL); 1 non Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL)]. HHV-8 loads
were determined by quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) whilst HHV-8 subtypes
were determined by open-reading frame (ORF)-K1 gen genotyping. HHV-8 subtypes
B, A, C, A5 and E were exhibited by 31.8%, 23.4%, 19.1%, 17% and 8.5% of the
studied patients, respectively. The median HHV-8 viral load did not differ
between subtypes (p > 0.05) but HHV-8 viral loads were significantly higher
in PEL than in epidemic KS lesion or lymph nodes (p = 0.04). Subtype B was detected in 60%
of patients with B cell lymphoma (NHL, PEL and HL) whereas subtype E was only
detected in patients with epidemic KS diagnosis. Our data suggest that HHV-8
DNA quantification instead of subtype identification could be used as a surrogate
marker for monitoring its infection, not only in epidemic KS patients but also
in HIV infected individuals with lymphoproliferative disorders.