Human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8), also known as Kaposis sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, is the most recently identified human herpesvirus. A key question regarding HHV-8 is the location of infected cells within HHV-8 seropositive individuals. Outside of tumor tissues, HHV-8 viral proteins have been detected in saliva, circulating B cells, and semen of some, but not all HHV-8 seropositive individuals. HHV-8 is the causative agent of Kaposis sarcoma (KS) and is associated with two other distinct proliferative disorders: primary effusion lymphoma and some forms of multicentric Castlemans disease. To better understand viral infection including the cellular targets of infection, we have begun a systematic screening of autopsy tissues from HHV-8 seropositive men who died with AIDS. Using immunohistochemistry (IHC), my goals were to determine reservoirs of HHV-8 infection and latency in organ tissues, determine the type of viral infection (lytic and/or latent) of each tissue type, and attempt to identify the infected cell type. In this report, using IHC, we document the presence of HHV-8 infected cells in several organs including kidney, lung, liver, and gastrointestinal tract samples from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). Both lytic and latent infections have been detected and the infected cells appear to consist of both immune and non-immune cells. These results demonstrate the ability of HHV-8 to establish infections in various organs which may affect the pathogenesis of the virus in infected individuals. Kaposis sarcoma is currently a major public health concern, as it is the most common malignancy found in individuals with AIDS and iatrogenic KS is a key concern in the field of solid-organ transplantation. This study will attempt to identify reservoirs of HHV-8 infection within the body in order to better understand the biology of HHV-8 in infected individuals, and the role HHV-8 plays in disease pathogenesis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04132007-104750 |
| Date | 28 June 2007 |
| Creators | Presser, Lance Douglas |
| Contributors | Frank J. Jenkins, PhD, Todd A. Reinhart, ScD, Charles R. Rinaldo Jr., PhD |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04132007-104750/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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