Abstract
Problem statement: The possible contribution of viruses to vascular pathology is still a controversial issue. Human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8) has been suggested to participate to the pathogenetic events associated with atherosclerotic lesion establishment and progression. Recently, a high incidence of infection of HHV-8 (11%) has been verified in the island of Sardinia. The aim of this study was to evaluate a possible relationship between the HHV-8 infection and cardiovascular diseases in the South of Sardinia. Approach: The presence of HHV-8 genome was detected in DNA extracted from peripheral leucocytes, by nested-PCR and Southern blotting, in either acute or chronic cardiopathic patients (n = 180); healthy blood donors were examined as controls (n = 108). Results: The results demonstrated a significant increase (p = 0.035) in HHV-8 DNA isolation from cardiopathic patients (22.8%) in comparison to healthy controls (12.0%). Conclusion: HHV8 infection can be considered, among others, as an additional risk factor for cardiovascular disease development, although it was not necessarily the starting cause. More extensive studies were needed to define the exact role of HHV-8 infection in cardiopathic patients.
Highlights
The human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is known as the Kaposi Sarcoma Associated Virus (KSAV)
The HHV-8 DNA was searched for in 180 patients (127 males and 53 females) from the UTIC Cardiology Division of the SS Trinità Hospital, Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy). These patients were divided into 4 groups based on the different cardiovascular diseases: 77 patients had an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS), 5 a non-acute coronary syndrome (NACS), 45 had an Acute Non-Corresponding Author: Angela Ingianni, Department of Science and Biomedical Technology, Section of Applied Microbiology, University of Cagliari Via Porcell, n°4 09124 Cagliari, Sardegna, Italy Tel: +39.070.6758487 Fax: +39.070.6758482 36
The HHV-8 DNA was detected in the peripheral lymphocytes of 41 patients with a clinically established cardiovascular pathology (23.6 males and 20.7% females), (Table 1)
Summary
The human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is known as the Kaposi Sarcoma Associated Virus (KSAV). It is responsible for multicentric Castleman disease, for Primary Effusion Lymphomas (PEL) and for serum Cavity Primary Lymphomas (BCBL)[1,2,3]. HHV-8 has a specific tropism for lymphocytes and endothelial cells and is highly carcinogenic in both immunocompromised adults and in AIDS patients[4]. Some authors have claimed that the presence of endemic diseases, such as malaria, G6PD defects and thalassemia can at least partially be responsible for the selection of highly sensitive subjects to the HHV-8 infection[7,8]
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