Abstract:

Objective To study the single nucleotide polymorphisms （SNPs） in the ORF26 gene of HHV-8 in Kaposi′s sarcoma （KS）, and to assess their correlations with the clinical phenotype and mucosal invasion of KS. Methods HHV-8 DNA was extracted with phenol-chloroform-isoamyl alcohol from paraffin-embedded tissue specimens obtained from 32 cases of KS （including 26 classic and 6 AIDS-related KS）. The ORF26 gene of HHV-8 was amplified by nested-PCR followed by bidirectional sequencing. The software DNAStar and program Clustal W were used to assess the SNPs in the ORF26 gene. Statistical analysis was carried out by using the Fisher′s exact probability test. Results HHV-8 DNA was detected in 30 of the 32 tissue specimens, and in all of the 6 AIDS-related specimens. The predominant SNPs were 981 T/C （n = 12）, 1086 C/T （n = 12） and 1139 A/C （n = 12） in the ORF26 gene of the 30 strains of HHV-8. No significant difference was observed in the distribution of SNPs in ORF26 between different phenotypes of KS or between KS with and without mucosal invasion. Conclusion The ORF26 SNPs of HHV-8 seem unrelated to the clinical phenotypes or mucosal invasion of KS.

Key words: Single nucleotide polymorphisms