AEGiS-14IAC: HHV-8 and Kaposi's sarcoma in the Naples hemophiliacs cohort.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

HHV-8 and Kaposi's sarcoma in the Naples hemophiliacs cohort.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no.. A10042)

Buonaguro FM, Tornesello ML, Buonaguro L, Visciano ML, Martucci F, Rocino A, Miraglia E
Ist.Naz.Tumori Fond Pascale, Naples, Italy

BACKGROUND: Epidemic KS shows a low incidence in hemophiliacs ranging worldwide from 0 to 7% (5% in Italy) [ENAADS, 95]. This retrospective study has been performed in order to evaluate the HHV8 prevalence, virus transmission rate and to characterize HHV8 isolates from Southern-Italy hemophiliacs.

METHODS: 291 patients affected by hemophilia A or B, or other hematological disorders have been enrolled and monitored for >10 years since 1984 for HIV-1 infection. Serum and PBMC have been collected twice per year for each patient and properly stored. Antibodies to a latent nuclear (LANA) and a structural antigen (Lytic) of HHV8 were measured by IF and WB using BCBL-1 cell line. HHV8 genetic characterization has been achieved by PCR amplification and by phylogenetic/ phenetic analysis of ORF26 (Minor Capsid Protein) and ORFK1, performed with the appropriate software packages.

RESULTS: 99 hemophiliacs (34%) were HIV+ and 9 of them were HHV8+ (9%), without a statistic difference with the HHV8 prevalence (3.6%, n=7) observed in the 192 HIV-- hemophiliacs (p=0.053), and with the HHV8 seroprevalence (5.4%, n=16) observed in a 1006 blood donor cohort (p=0.42). Three patients infected with both viruses developed a KS and all three died in a twelve-year period. HHV8 phylogenetic characterization showed that all HHV8 isolates on the basis of the ORF 26 and K1 felled in the A clade, prevalent in Italy.

CONCLUSIONS: These data show that HHV8 prevalence in hemophiliacs is not statistically different from that present in the general population of the local geographical region, suggesting that the blood transmission of HHV8 is a rare event. The HHV-8 strains present in these patients are highly homologous to the strains present in the HHV8+ subjects of that region with or without KS. Furthermore HIV-related immune deficiency increase of thousand folds the risk of developing KS also for HHV8+ hemophiliacs, whose KS incidence without HIV infection is not known.

Keywords: AEGIS, Herpesvirus 8, Human, Sarcoma, Kaposi, HIV Infections, Prevalence, HIV Seropositivity, Seroepidemiologic Studies, Incidence, Hemophilia A, AIDS Dementia Complex, Blood Donors, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Italy, Retrospective Studies, Human

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A10042