Dominant human herpesvirus type 8 RNA transcripts in classical and AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma

Skin biopsy sections of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) from 25 patients (5 AIDS-related, 20 classical cases) were histologically staged and hybridized in situ with oligonucleotide probes for constitutively transcribed human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) mRNA T0.7 and T1.1 using a colourimetric technique. T1.1 increases during experimental induction of the viral lytic phase in the HHV-8-infected lymphocytes of primary effusion lymphoma and its colourimetric detection in KS cells presumably corresponds to virion production. Immunostaining with anti-CD20, CD45RO, MAC 387, and alpha-smooth muscle actin was performed following T1.1 in situ hybridization (ISH). When the amount of T0.7 was above the detection threshold, the signal was made up of multiple coarse intranuclear dots in most spindle cells. Of the six early-stage lesions, none produced a T1.1 hybridization signal. Two of four AIDS-related and two of eight classical lesions with incipient spindle cell growth produced rare but distinct dense intranuclear T1.1 signals in endothelial cells lining narrow tubes. In contrast, eight of ten (all classical KS) mature spindle cell lesions displayed a signal, scattered in up to 2 per cent of spindled endothelial cells. Cell types other than endothelium produced no T1.1 hybridization signal in double stains. The results are consistent with other published data indicating latent HHV-8 infection in endothelium and its tumour cell progeny, with simultaneous virion production in a small subset of cells. Immunodeficiency may not influence the number of cells lytically infected with HHV-8 in early KS, in contradistinction to other herpesviruses with latent-lytic cycles.