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Hhv-8 infection and post-transplant
malignancies
Mario Luppi, Patrizia Barozzi ,
Giuseppe Torelli
Department of Oncology and Hematology, University of Modena and
Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8)/Kaposi sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) has been identified in 1994 from the Kaposi sarcoma (KS) tissues of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HHV-8 has been classified as a gamma-herpesvirus, related to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and herpesvirus saimiri. Like other herpesviruses, HHV-8 is a large double-stranded DNA virus that replicates in the nucleus as a closed circular episome during latency but linearizes during virion packaging and replication. HHV-8 viral genome is unique, compared with the genome of other human herpesviruses, as it contains genes associated either with the latent or the lytic phase of the viral cycle, which are homologous to cellular genes, involved in the control of cell cycle and apoptosis. [>Read full article in PDF]