ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: With the spread of AIDS, many HIV-infected women have been diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), especially in Africa. Since the discovery of a novel herpesvirus as the causative agent of KS (human herpesvirus 8 - HHV-8) several seroepidemiological studies have been conducted to identify groups at risk for KS. The risk for women in Brazil has not been studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched for HHV-8 antibodies in sera obtained from a bank made up of samples from 3 groups of individuals: Group I: 163 HIV-1-infected women attended at an ambulatory clinic in 1994; Group II: 108 children born to HIV-1-infected mothers from 1990 to 1992, their antibodies reflected maternal infection, and Group III: 630 HIV-1-seronegative, healthy women. In-house immunofluorescence and Western-Blot assays based on the BCBL-1 cell line were used to detect anti-latent and anti-lytic HHV-8 antibodies. RESULTS: Group I had an overall frequency of antibodies of 8.6 percent, with a 1.2 percent frequency of anti-latent antibodies and an 8.0 percent frequency of anti-lytic antibodies. Similar results were detected in Group II, i.e., no cases with anti-latent antibodies and a 7.4 percent frequency of anti-lytic antibodies. In contrast, prevalences of 1.1 percent anti-latent antibodies and 0.3 percent anti-lytic antibodies were observed in Group III. CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiologic pattern of HHV-8 in women from São Paulo varies according to behavioral factors, with emphasis on the sexual and blood routes of virus transmission/acquisition. Although HHV-8 anti-lytic antibodies were found in HIV-1-infected women, no case of KS was detected. Protective factors against KS are probably related to gender and/or to antiretroviral therapies introduced in Brazil since 1994.
Subject(s)
Middle Aged , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Antibodies, Viral , Herpesvirus 8, Human , Sarcoma, Kaposi , Blotting, Western , Brazil , Fluorescent Antibody Technique , HIV Infections , HIV-1 , Risk Factors , Sarcoma, Kaposi , Seroepidemiologic StudiesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: With the spread of AIDS, many HIV-infected women have been diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), especially in Africa. Since the discovery of a novel herpesvirus as the causative agent of KS (human herpesvirus 8 - HHV-8) several seroepidemiological studies have been conducted to identify groups at risk for KS. The risk for women in Brazil has not been studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched for HHV-8 antibodies in sera obtained from a bank made up of samples from 3 groups of individuals: Group I: 163 HIV-1-infected women attended at an ambulatory clinic in 1994; Group II: 108 children born to HIV-1-infected mothers from 1990 to 1992, their antibodies reflected maternal infection, and Group III: 630 HIV-1-seronegative, healthy women. In-house immunofluorescence and Western-Blot assays based on the BCBL-1 cell line were used to detect anti-latent and anti-lytic HHV-8 antibodies. RESULTS: Group I had an overall frequency of antibodies of 8.6%, with a 1.2% frequency of anti-latent antibodies and an 8.0% frequency of anti-lytic antibodies. Similar results were detected in Group II, i.e., no cases with anti-latent antibodies and a 7.4% frequency of anti-lytic antibodies. In contrast, prevalences of 1.1% anti-latent antibodies and 0.3% anti-lytic antibodies were observed in Group III. CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiologic pattern of HHV-8 in women from São Paulo varies according to behavioral factors, with emphasis on the sexual and blood routes of virus transmission/acquisition. Although HHV-8 anti-lytic antibodies were found in HIV-1-infected women, no case of KS was detected. Protective factors against KS are probably related to gender and/or to antiretroviral therapies introduced in Brazil since 1994.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Viral/blood , Herpesvirus 8, Human/immunology , Sarcoma, Kaposi/virology , Adolescent , Adult , Blotting, Western , Brazil/epidemiology , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Fluorescent Antibody Technique/methods , HIV Infections/immunology , HIV-1/immunology , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Middle Aged , Risk Factors , Sarcoma, Kaposi/epidemiology , Seroepidemiologic StudiesABSTRACT
With the spread of AIDS, many HIV-1 infected women and children have been diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), mostly in Africa. Since the discovery of the causative agent of KS (human herpesvirus 8, HHV-8) several seroepidemiological studies have been conducted to identify groups at risk of KS. The present study was conducted in order to add some information from São Paulo, Brazil. We searched for HHV-8 antibodies in plasma samples obtained from a cohort of 108 children born to HIV-1 infected mothers, and from 15 mother-child pairs enrolled in a longitudinal study of HIV-1 vertical transmission. An in house immunofluorescence assay was used to detect anti-latent and anti-lytic HHV-8 antibodies based on the BCBL-1 cell line. No case of anti-latent antibodies and a 7.4 per cent frequency of anti-lytic antibodies were detected among children. Interestingly, the detection of HHV-8 antibodies varied according to the children's HIV-1 status; no antibodies were detected in HIV-1 non-infected children and 10.9 per cent and 8.3 per cent frequencies of antilytic antibodies in truly HIV-1 infected children and in children in whom the HIV-1 status could not be defined. Since concordant results were obtained by the analysis of plasma samples obtained from mother-child pairs and considering the children's age, the antibodies detected in the present study probably reflect maternal antibodies. Unfortunately, we were not able to determine if any case of KS occurred among mothers, but because of the risk of HHV-8 horizontal transmission, the results obtained prompt us to continue investigating groups at risk to acquire HHV-8 and to search for preventive measures to avoid virus transmission.
