Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Angiosarcoma is an aggressive,
malignant neoplasm of vascular or lymphatic origin. Herpes
virus 8 (
HHV-8) is a member of the herpes
family with a
tropism for
endothelial cells and it has been proven to induce
vascular neoplasms, such as
Kaposi's sarcoma. The
role of
HHV-8 in the
pathogenesis of
angiosarcoma has not been well defined.
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the relationship between the presence of
HHV-8 and
angiosarcoma.
METHODS:
In this study, the team investigated the relationship between the presence of
HHV-8, as determined by
polymerase chain reaction, and
angiosarcoma, using samples from
patients with
epidemic Kaposi's sarcoma as controls.
RESULTS:
While all control cases with
epidemic Kaposi's sarcoma were positive for
HHV-8, none of the
angiosarcoma cases was.
CONCLUSION:
These findings support most previous studies that found no
association between
HHV-8 and
angiosarcoma.