AIDSWEEKLY Plus; December 2, 2002
Michael Greer, Senior Medical Writer

"Human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) is etiologically associated with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), body cavity-based lymphoma (BCBL), and multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD)," according to Jian Song and colleagues at Osaka University in Osaka and Tokai University in Kanagawa.

IL-6 activates and enhances HHV-8 and HIV replication, Song and coauthors found.

The researchers used a BCBL tumor cell line to examine the effect of IL-6 on HHV-8 activity. Exposing these cells to IL-6 triggered the expression of viral genes needed for replication, they reported.

The effects of IL-6 on HIV replication, noted in previous studies, were also investigated by Song and coauthors. They confirmed that an HHV-8-encoded cytokine homologue stimulated HIV replication in chronically infected cells, and enhanced human IL-6 secretion by T-lymphoblastoid cells, according to the report.

These effects appeared to be mediated by the signaling molecule gp130 (Human interleukin-6 induces human herpesvirus-8 replication in a body cavity-based lymphoma cell line. J Med Virol 2002 Nov;68(3):404-11.

"These data suggest the possible existence of interaction between HIV and HHV-8 via IL-6," Song and colleagues concluded, "and that the blockade of IL-6 signal by anti-IL-6R antibody or anti-gp130 antibody can constitute a strategy to treat HIV/HHV-8 dually infected patients."

The corresponding author for this report is Norihiro Nishimoto, Department of Medical Science I, School of Health and Sport Sciences, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamada-oka, Suita-city, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan. E-mail: norihiro@imed3.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.

Key points reported in this study include:

• Interleukin (IL)-6 may play a key role in the development of several AIDS-related malignancies, including Kaposi sarcoma (KS)

• IL-6 activates and enhances human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) replication, the causative agent of KS and other AIDS-associated cancers

• HIV replication is also augmented by IL-6

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

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