SEROLOGIC ASSOCIATION OF HUMAN HERPESVIRUS EIGHT WITH POSTTRANSPLANT KAPOSI'S SARCOMA IN SAUDI ARABIA1

In Saudi Arabia Kaposis sarcoma occurs in 4.1% of renal transplant recipients and accounts for 70% of malignancies in this group. Human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) has been identified in the DNA of many of these patients. The association between HHV8 and Kaposis sarcoma was investigated further in post-renal transplant Kaposis sarcoma patients from a tertiary care hospital (King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center) in Riyadh Saudi Arabia (n = 14) and non-Kaposis sarcoma controls with renal transplant (n = 18) chronic renal failure (n = 14) other cancers that did not affect renal function (n = 15) and healthy volunteers (n = 15). The median time from transplant to Kaposis sarcoma was 13 months. A serum sample was assumed to have antibodies to HHV8 if antibody to either p40 or sVCA was detected. The prevalence of HHV8 seroreactivity was 13/14 (93%) in cases 5/18 (28%) in renal transplants without Kaposis sarcoma and 11/62 (18%) in the aggregate control group. HHV8 seroreactivity was significantly more common (p < 0.001) among transplant patients with Kaposis sarcoma than those without this cancer (odds ratio 33.80; 95% confidence interval 2.96-904). These findings suggest an etiologic link between HHV8 and Kaposis sarcoma presumably due to immunologic or cellular factors that influence host-virus interactions.