Relationship between human herpesvirus 8 loads and disease stage in classic Kaposi sarcoma patients

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), also known as Kaposi sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus, is causally implicated in all forms of KS, including the classic form. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between HHV-8 load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and the stage of the disease in classic KS (CKS) patients. HHV-8 loads were measured in 41 PBMC samples from CKS patients with different Krigel-based classification stages using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. Low HHV-8 DNA loads reaching a maximum of 75.5 copies/10(5) cells were detected in 73.2% of the patients. HHV-8 loads in patients with stages I and II were similarly distributed. An increased detection rate of HHV-8 DNA, although not statistically significant, was evident in patients diagnosed with CKS stages III and IV. We conclude that the measurements of HHV-8 load in PBMCs provide a limited correlation with the clinical stage of KS.