Human immunodeficiency virus-1 infection, homosexuality, and Kaposi-associated herpes-like DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

A novel herpesvirus-like DNA sequence has recently been identified in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS>associated and nonassociated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS),'-5 in human immunodeficiency virus-I (HIV-1)-infected and uninfected subjects with multicentric Castleman's disease:' and in HIV-I-related body-cavity-based lymphomas? These findings have raised the possibility that a new herpesvirus-related infectious agent is involved in the pathogenesis of KS and some lymphoproliferative disorders. However, the presence of the KS herpesvirus-like (KSHV) sequence in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) has been poorly investigated, making it difficult to define the pattern of transmission of the putative new herpesvirus. To this end, we analyzed blood samples from 155 subjects for the presence of the KSHV sequence by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the primer pair specific for the KS330zss region of KSHV DNA.' The population analyzed included six different groups from central Italy: 24 HIV-1 -infected homosexual men, 5 HIV-1 -uninfected homosexual men, 17 HIV-I -infected heterosexual men, 42 HIV-I uninfected heterosexual men, 25 HIV-I -infected women, and 42 HIV-1-uninfected women. Results are shown in Table 1. Three of the HIV-I -infected homosexual males developed KS. KSHV DNA was detected in the single sample tested from the first patient 2 years before development of KS. The second patient was shown to harbor the KSHV DNA only in the fourth of 6 PBMC samples analyzed, concomitant with the appearance of KS. The third patient did not harbor the KSHV sequence in any of the 4 samples tested, with KS KSHV-Positive PatientdPatients Tested (%)