Kaposi's sarcoma

Abstract

Herpesviruses are double-stranded DNA viruses that can remain latent in vertebrate hosts. Eight human herpesviruses have been discovered to date. Herpesviruses are classified into three subfamilies, a, ß, and ? , on the basis of their genome structure and biological properties. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated virus (KSHV), also known as human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8), is a gamma herpesvirus (rhadinovirus) closely related to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and in the lineage of various rhadinoviruses infecting macaques, African green monkeys (Fig. 1). It was discovered in 1994 by Chang et al. [1] in a Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) specimen from an human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patient using representational difference analysis and was shown to be the long-sought infectious agent responsible for KS. Since then, its association has been confirmed in all clinical settings of KS and was extended to a limited number of lymphoproliferations including multicentric Castleman's disease and primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) [2]. © 2009 Springer US.