3rd Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections Washington, DC - January 28-February 1, 1996

Conf Retroviruses Opportunistic Infect 1996 Jan 28-Feb 1; 3rd:55 (abstract no. 14)

Lefrere JJ, Meyohas MC, Mariotiti M, Meynard JL, Thauvin M, Lerable J, Frottier J
Paris ; Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Paris, France.

The presence of DNA sequences of an herpesvirus-like, provisionnaly termed as eighth human herpesvirus (HHV-8), was evidenced in the majority of AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) lesions and in PBMCs from HIV-infected individuals with KS lesions. No sequential research of HHV-8 DNA in PBMCs has yet been performed during the whole incubation period of AIDS in patients entering the disease by a KS. Patients and

METHODS: we used HHV-8 DNA PCR (using a specific primer pair amplifying a sequence designated KS330233) to search for the presence of HHV-8 in PBMCs of 5 symptomless HIV-infected patients during the years included between the primary HIV infection and the appearence of KS (mean period : 6 years; 4-9). This study was made possible through frozen lymphocytes collected every year from individuals with a known date of HIV infection (negative assay in the six months preceding the first positive serology) and prospectively followed-up since the first year of infection. Controls included 6 AIDS patients with KS, 14 AIDS patients without, and 10 healthy HIV-negative individuals.

RESULTS: HHV-8 DNA was found positive on each annual sample since the first year of HIV infection in all of the 5 individuals having developed a KS at the end of the follow-up. HHV-8 PCR was found positive in all but one AIDS patient with KS, and negative in all but one AIDS patient without and in healthy HIV-negative individuals.

CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that HHV-8 DNA may be evidenced several years before the occurence of a KS in HIV-infected individuals, giving a perspective of preventive therapy and raising the problem of a systematic screening of the HHV-8 in a yet symptomless HIV-infected population. The evidence of HHV-8 on the samples collected during the first year of HIV seropositivity in the 5 patients suggests that they were either simultaneously infected by both viruses or infected by HIV while they were already HHV-8 carriers.

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Copyright © 1996 - Foundation for Retrovirology and Human Health . Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Foundation for Retrovirology and Human Health.