AEGiS-13IAC: Identification of a novel human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) circulating in South Africa.

13th International AIDS Conference


Durban, South Africa - July 9-July 14, 2000

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Identification of a novel human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) circulating in South Africa.

Int Conf AIDS 2000 Jul 9-14; 13:(abstract no. WeOrA470)

Alagiozoglou L, Sitas F, Zong JC, Hayward GS, Morris L
L. Alagiozoglou, Private Bag X4, Sandringham, Johannesburg 2131, South Africa, Tel.: +27 11 321 4290, Fax: +27 11 882 0596, E-mail: leea@niv.ac.za

BACKGROUND: In South Africa, Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is becoming increasingly prevalent with the expanding HIV epidemic. Recent evidence has documented the existence of different HHV-8 genetic subgroups that are geographically distributed. The aim of this study was to identify the circulating subgroups in South Africa.

METHODS: HHV-8 DNA from blood or lymph nodes of 25 individuals with clinically confirmed KS and from 15 HIV-positive individuals, with no visible KS lesions, was used. An 804 bp region in the ORF75 gene was amplified and sequenced and used to compare phylogenetic relationships with known subgroups. A single stranded conformational polymorphism analysis (SSCP) was evaluated to determine if different subgroups could be differentiated using a quick screening method.

RESULTS: Phylogenetic relationships between ORF75 sequences of 40 samples showed that the majority (n = 29) fell into a category overlapping the previously identified A and B subgroups and were termed A/B variants. Three strains were classified as subgroup C, while 8 sequences did not cluster with any of the previously classified subgroups and were termed novel (N) subgroup. The DNA distance of the N subgroup differed from the A, B and C subgroups by 4.7%, 3.8% and 4.5% respectively, although, within the N subgroup there was only 0.4% variation. There was sufficient inter-subgroup genetic diversity that SSCP could rapidly differentiate the N subgroup from the other groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on the analysis of the ORF75 gene a unique HHV-8 subgroup, termed N, is present in South Africa that accounts for 20% of circulating strains. Further studies are required to determine the extent of evolutionary phylogeny, distribution and pathogenic potential of this novel subgroup.

Keywords: AEGIS, Herpesvirus 8, Human, Sarcoma, Kaposi, Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational, Variation (Genetics), Phylogeny, South Africa, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, Human, geneticsKWDaegis,herpesvirus8,human,sarcoma,kaposi,polymorphism,single-strandedconformational,variation(genetics),phylogeny,southafrica,hivinfections,hivseropositivity,human,genetics
000709
WeOrA470

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