Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1994. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press, Thur 22 Dec 1994
In a study published in the journal Science, researchers led by a husband-and-wife team at Columbia University report that unique DNA sequences, or fragments of genes, were isolated from tissues of Kaposi's sarcoma lesions taken from AIDS patients and that the gene material may be from a previously unknown human herpes virus.
"The DNA sequences we found contain portions of at least three different genes that are unique to herpes virus," said Dr. Yuan Chang of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. "The evidence strongly suggests that these DNA sequences belong to a new herpes sequence, but additional tests are needed to confirm it."
Finding the viral gene sequences in nearly all of the Kaposi's lesions tested raises the intriguing possibility that the same virus is the cause, or at least a contributor, to the cancer, said Chang. But she emphasized this is only speculation.
Proof that a virus causes Kaposi's sarcoma could lead to developing a diagnostic test to find people susceptible to the disease and perhaps to a drug that would kill the virus and thus prevent the cancer.
Chang's husband, Dr. Patrick Moore of the Columbia University School of Public Health, said Kaposi's sarcoma, or KS, was a rare cancer, usually seen only in elderly men of eastern Mediterranean ancestry, until the AIDS epidemic. Since then, KS is found in 25 percent to 50 percent of all gay men infected with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes AIDS.
Moore said that the classic KS is a slowly developing disease of the skin but that in AIDS patients the cancer can spread throughout the body and is "very serious and very aggressive."
Laboratories all over the world have been trying to determine if KS is caused by some infectious agent. Other viruses or bacteria have been suggested in the past, but were never confirmed.
"It's really good work and it could be a substantial advance," Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Institutes of Health said in Science. "But I have major questions."
Gallo and other researchers suggest more proof is needed of the precise role of virus in KS.
Change and Moore said they plan to test for the virus in tissue from patients with the classic KS not associated with AIDS. If the virus is found there, it would support the suggestion that the virus causes KS.
There are seven human herpes virus, and all are troublesome.
Moore said that viral gene sequences isolated so far show that the new virus is most closely related to Epstein-Barr, a herpes-type virus that causes mononucleosis and has been associated with some cancers, and to samimiri, a herpes virus that causes cancer in monkeys.
Chang, Moore and their colleagues found the virus gene sequences in 25 of 27 tissues tested from AIDS-related KS lesions. The sequences were found in six of 39 non-cancerous specimens from patients who had AIDs. In 85 people with neither AIDS nor KS, the gene sequences were not found.
Copyright (c) 1994 - The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
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Copyright © 1994 - Associated Press. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the AP Permissions Desk.
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