High incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and Epstein- Barr virus in tumor lesions and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with Kaposi's sarcoma in Uganda

With the advent of AIDS, Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) has become one of the leading malignancies in sub-Saharan Africa. Recently, DNA sequences from a new human herpesvirus called KS-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) or human herpesvirus type 8 have been found in KS tumor lesions in high frequency. Analyses of tumor lesions from 38 Ugandan KS patients indicated a uniform presence of KSHV in KS tumor lesions as revealed by polymerase chain reaction and Southern hybridization. In contrast, only 31% (11/36) of the normal skin biopsies from the same patient population were positive. The frequency of KSHV DNA detection in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of KS patients was also high (84%, 31/37). Similar analyses revealed the presence of cytomegalovirus (21% in KS lesions) to be discordant with KS development. A large number of KS lesions (87%, 33/38) and KS PBMC (70%, 26/37) were, however, positive for Epstein-Barr virus sequences. In addition, KSHV DNA was not found in the PBMC of Ugandans without KS.