High titers of anti-human herpesvirus 8 antibodies in elderly males in an endemic population

Abstract

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) is the etiologic agent of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), a tumor occurring mainly among elderly men in its endemic and classical forms. The male-to-female ratio of KS in different endemic populations ranges from 3:1 to 15:1. We investigated the influence of age and gender on anti-HHV8 antibody titers among HHV8-seropositive subjects of an endemic population (1819 villagers with 874 men and 945 women) of African origin living in French Guiana. By using a specific immunofluorescence assay, we found that the overall HHV8 seroprevalence of antibodies against lytic antigens was 11.8%. There was no difference between seroprevalence in males (11.7%) and females (11.8%). Among the 214 HHV8-seropositive subjects, anti-HHV8 antibody titers were found to increase with age (P