J Korean Med Sci.  2000 Aug;15(4):442-448. 10.3346/jkms.2000.15.4.442.

Detection of human herpesvirus 8 DNA in pemphigus and chronic blistering skin diseases

• Jang HS
• Oh CK
• Lim JY
• Jun ES
• Kim YS
• Kwon KS

• KMID: 1730642
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2000.15.4.442

Abstract

Increased incidences of Kaposi's sarcoma and lymphoid malignancies have been observed in patients with pemphigus, and the human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is very strongly associated with these tumors. Because the virus may be one of the triggering factors of pemphigus, we undertook this study to screen for the presence of HHV-8 in chronic blistering skin diseases including pemphigus. A total of 45 paraffin-embedded specimens were studied using nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers to amplify a 160-base pair HHV-8 fragment. HHV-8 DNA could be detected in 7 of 9 patients with pemphigus vulagris, and 1 of 2 with pemphigus foliaceus. All specimens of other blistering skin diseases were negative for HHV-8. On sequencing PCR products, the sequences were almost identical with the prototypic sequence for HHV-8, and a few base- pair substitutions at 1086C-T and 1139A-C were detected. The results of our study suggests that HHV-8 might have trophism for pemphigus lesions. Further studies including comparison of HHV-8 DNA load in both lesional and normal skin in the same patient, serological and animal studies would be helpful to study the relationship between HHV-8 and pemphigus.

Keyword

Herpesvirus, Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Pemphigus; Blister

MeSH Terms

Adult
Comparative Study
DNA Mutational Analysis
DNA, Viral/genetics
DNA, Viral/analysis+ACo-
Female
Herpesviridae Infections/virology+ACo-
Herpesviridae Infections/epidemiology
Herpesvirus, Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated/pathogenicity
Herpesvirus, Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated/isolation +ACY- purification+ACo-
Herpesvirus, Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated/genetics
Human
Korea/epidemiology
Male
Middle Age
Paraffin Embedding
Pemphigus/virology+ACo-
Pemphigus/etiology
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Prevalence
Retrospective Studies
Skin Diseases, Vesiculobullous/virology+ACo-
Skin Diseases, Viral/virology+ACo-
Skin Diseases, Viral/epidemiology
Tissue Fixation