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Infection With Kaposi’s Sarcoma–Associated Herpesvirus Among Families of Patients With Classic Kaposi’s Sarcoma
Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, MSc;
Zippi Kra-Oz, PhD;
Jonathan Dubnov, MD;
Rachel Friedman-Birnbaum, MD;
Isic Segal, BSc;
Neli Zaltzman, MSc;
Tova Roth, BSc;
Fidi Schwartz, PhD;
Shai Linn, MD;
Dganit Rozenman, MD;
Michael David, MD;
Michael Silbermann, DMD, PhD;
Micha Barchana, MD;
Reuven Bergman, MD;
Ronit Sarid, PhD
Arch Dermatol. 2005;141:1429-1434.
Background Classic Kaposi’s sarcoma (CKS) primarily affects elderly Mediterranean or Eastern European men. Incidence rates of CKS in Israel are among the world’s highest. In practically all cases, antibodies against Kaposi’s sarcoma–associated herpesvirus (KSHV) can be detected. A relatively high seroprevalence rate of KSHV in Israel generally correlates with the incidence of CKS. A sexual mode of virus transmission is recognized among homosexual men, whereas the precise transmission routes in the heterosexual population and those with CKS are still unclear
Objective To better assess the transmission routes of KSHV in Israeli patients with CKS and their first-degree relatives as compared with a control group.
Design Serum was collected from all study participants and tested for KSHV antibodies by means of latent and lytic immunofluorescence assays. An open reading frame 65 (ORF65) Western blot assay was applied as a confirmatory tool.
Setting Three dermatological departments in Israel.
Patients Sixty-four Jewish patients with CKS, 143 of their first-degree relatives, and 186 hospital-based control subjects.
Results Seropositivity to KSHV was detected in 62 (96.9%) of the patients with CKS, in 56 (39.2%) of their first-degree relatives, and in only 21 (11.3%) of the hospital controls (P<.001). The specific relationship with the index patient (spouse, offspring, or sibling) had no significant effect on the prevalence of serpositivity in the family members.
Conclusion Our serologic evidence of familial clustering of KSHV infection suggests a predominantly nonsexual horizontal transmission route of the virus.
Author Affiliations: Departments of Dermatology (Drs Guttman-Yassky, Friedman-Birnbaum, and Bergman), Virology (Dr Kra-Oz and Mss Zaltzman and Roth), and Cell Biology and Anatomy (Drs Guttman-Yassky and Silbermann) and Unit of Epidemiology (Dr Linn), Rambam Medical Center and the Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel; Israel Cancer Registry, Israel Ministry of Health, Jerusalem (Drs Dubnov and Barchana and Mr Segal); Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel (Drs Guttman-Yassky, Schwartz, and Sarid); Department of Dermatology, HaEmek Medical Center, Afula, Israel (Dr Rozenman); and Department of Dermatology, Rabin Medical Center, Petah-Tikva, Israel (Dr David).
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Association of Clinical Progression in Classic Kaposi’s Sarcoma With Reduction of Peripheral B Lymphocytes and Partial Increase in Serum Immune Activation Markers
Alexander J. Stratigos, Dimitrios Malanos, Giota Touloumi, Anna Antoniou, Irene Potouridou, Dorothea Polydorou, Andreas D. Katsambas, Denise Whitby, Nancy Mueller, John D. Stratigos, and Angelos Hatzakis
Arch Dermatol. 2005;141(11):1421-1426.
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