Prevalence of HHV-8 in cutaneous neoplasms

Recently, Human Herpes Virus 8 (HHV-8) has been proposed to be the putative virus in the development of Kaposi's sarcoma in AIDS patients (AIDS-KS). To identify the presence and prevalence of HHV-8 in lesions other than in AIDS-KS, PCR analysis for HHV-8 DNA sequences was performed on 13 samples of AIDS-KS, 18 samples of classic Kaposi's sarcoma (non-KS) proliferative skin lesions (basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas, actinic keratoses, verruca vulgaris, atypical squamous proliferations, and seborrheic keratoses) from immunosuppressed organ transplant patients, and 7 samples of primary and 5 samples of recurrent basal cell (BCC) and squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) from immuno-competent patients. HHV-88 was detected in 100% of the AIDS-KS samples, 72% of the CKS samples, 100% of the OKS samples, 82% of the non-KS samples from organ transplant patients, 14% of the primary BCC and SCC from immunocompetent patients, and 40% of the recurrent BCC and SCC from immunocompetent patients. These results suggest that the recently discovered HHV-8 is associated with lesions besides AIDS-KS, with the prevalence of HHV-8 being highest in AIDS-KS and OKS. In addition, the prevalence of HHV-8 in these samples is greater in recurrent carcinoma than in primary carcinoma. These data also suggest that HHV-8 may be involved, albeit not solely responsible, in the pathogenesis of KS and carcinomas.