Viruses can only reproduce by infecting live cells. During their replication, some viruses manipulate the host cell machinery in such a way that may cause the host cell to reproduce out of control and become carcinogenesis. These viruses are known as oncogenic viruses, also named as “tumor viruses” or “cancer viruses”. In 1909, Francis Peyton Rous showed that cancer could be transmitted through...

Virus infection of a cell generally evokes an immune response by the host to defeat the intruder in its effort. Many viruses have developed an array of strategies to evade or antagonize host antiviral responses. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is demonstrated in this report to be able to prevent activation of host antiviral defense mechanisms upon infection. Cells infected with w...

PURPOSE Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV)-associated primary effusion lymphomas (PEL) have extremely poor prognosis when treated with conventional chemotherapy. KSHV-encoded viral FLICE-inhibitory protein (vFLIP) K13 binds to the IkappaB kinase (IKK) complex to constitutively activate the NF-κB pathway, which has been shown to be essential for the survival and proliferation of PEL c...

Rhesus monkey rhadinovirus (RRV) is a γ-herpesvirus that is closely related tohuman Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV-8). RRV is the closest relativeto KSHV that has a fully sequenced genome and serves as an in vitro and an in vivo modelsystem for KSHV. The latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) protein of both KSHVand RRV plays key roles in the establishment an...

BACKGROUND Endemic Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a clinically and epidemiologically distinct human immunodeficiency virus negative form of KS occurring in Africa. Kaposi's sarcoma is now the most frequently reported cancer in some areas of Africa. OBJECTIVE To determine if a KS-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is present in both endemic HIV-seronegative and HIV-seropositive KS lesions from African pa...

Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) has been associated with several diseases, but the association between KSHV and multiple myeloma (MM) remains controversial. To address this issue, we studied patients with MM for the presence of viral RNA transcripts as well as KSHV-specific cellular immune responses. Highly sensitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays for detect...

Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) can establish latent infection in host cells. The latently infected cells can survive and proliferate with a few viral genes expressed. However, in some Kaposi sarcoma cells, KSHV undergoes a productive life cycle and causes cell lysis. A new study (see the related article beginning on page 124) demonstrates that, after KSHV infection or introduction...

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a newly identified gammaherpesvirus associated with all clinical forms of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), body-cavity-based, primary effusion lymphomas (PELs), and a subset of Castleman's disease (CD). Sequence analysis of the KSHV genome demonstrates an extensive array of genes with homology to cellular genes involved in cell cycle regulation, cell prol...

the name herpes comes from the greek herpein—“to creep.” Members of the Herpesviridae family have been identified in a variety of animals and they all share certain features, including an ability to establish latency following primary infection, as well as a potential to reactivate and cause further disease. Herpesviruses have large genomes and contain approximately 35 virion genes—all of which...

Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is the most frequent AIDS-defining cancer worldwide. KS-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiological agent of KS, and the virus is also associated with two lymphoproliferative diseases. Both KS and KSHV-associated lymphomas, are cancers of unique molecular composition. They represent a challenge for cancer treatment and an opportunity to identify new mechanisms of transf...