Abstract:

Objective To analyze the genotypes of human herpesvirus 8 （HHV-8） by using the polymorphisms in open reading frame （ORF） 26 gene in patients with squamous cell carcinoma（SCC）in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Methods DNA was extracted from paraffin-embeded tissue specimens from 41 patients with skin SCC and 46 patients with esophagus SCC, and subjected to nested-PCR for the amplification of the ORF26 gene of HHV-8 followed by bidirectional sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out to determine the genotype of HHV-8 by using the DNASTAR software, Clustal W program, and PHYLIP package. The data were analyzed by SPSS 17.0 software. Results HHV-8 DNA was detected in 9 （21.95%） of 41 skin SCC specimens and 10 （21.74%） of 46 esophagus SCC specimens （?字2 = 0.09, P > 0.05）. As phylogenetic analysis showed, 7 HHV-8 isolates from skin SCC specimens belonged to ORF26 subtype A, 2 subtype C; 7 HHV-8 isolates from esophagus SCC specimens belonged to ORF26 subtype A, and 3 subtype C. Conclusions ORF26 subtype A and C are the predominate genotypes of HHV in patients with SCC in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with the prevalence of subtype A higher than that of subtype C. The distribution of HHV subtypes seems unrelated to the location of SCC.

Key words: subtypeORF26