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Sarcoidosis and Crohn disease are chronic granulomatous conditions of unknown pathogenesis that affect multiple organ systems. A common mechanism has been proposed but never proved. Recently, it has been suggested that human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) might play a role in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis based on polymerase chain reaction studies showing HHV-8 in a high proportion of affected tissues.¹ We used polymerase chain reaction studies to amplify a 233–base pair fragment of HHV-8 DNA in archived specimens of tissues from patients with sarcoidosis and Crohn disease who had never been treated with corticosteroids or immunomodulator agents to determine if HHV-8 might be present in these tissues.

Methods and Results

Archived tissue specimens from the skin of 8 patients with sarcoidosis and from the small bowel of 7 patients with Crohn disease were selected on the basis of clinical history and histopathologic findings, including the presence of granulomas. Three Kaposi sarcoma specimens and 1 . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Keith A. Knoell, MD; John D. Hendrix, Jr, MD; Mark H. Stoler, MD; James W. Patterson, MD; Carolina M. Montes, MD