Published in:
Open Access
01-10-2010 | Meeting abstracts
Distinct profiles of antibodies to Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus antigens in patients with Kaposi sarcoma, multicentric Castleman’s disease, and primary effusion lymphoma
Authors:
Peter D Burbelo, Alexandra T Issa, Kathryn H Ching, Kathleen M Wyvill, Richard F Little, Michael J Iadarola, Joseph A Kovacs, Robert Yarchoan
Published in:
Infectious Agents and Cancer
|
Special Issue 1/2010
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Excerpt
Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also called human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8), is the causative agent of all forms of Kaposi sarcoma (KS), as well as two rare B-cell HIV lymphoproliferative disorders, primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD). Like other herpesviruses, KSHV has two phases of gene expression, latent and lytic. In KS, many of the KSHV-infected spindle cells express only latent genes, while a small percentage express lytic genes. By contrast, a substantial percentage of MCD cells express lytic KSHV genes. The majority of PEL cells express KSHV latent genes, but in addition can show limited expression of certain lytic genes. Given the differential expression of KSHV lytic and latent proteins in KS, PEL, and MCD, we hypothesized that different antibody profiles to KSHV antigens might distinguish these diseases. …