United Press International; Wednesday April 1 4:51 PM EST
Lidia Wasowicz, UPI Science Writer

The study of 800 men by University of California, San Francisco, researchers provides the first direct link between Kaposi's sarcoma and a virus that in homosexuals is most often transmitted sexually.

The report solves a four-year-old mystery of whether the human herpesvirus 8, HHV-8, is the cause or effect of the rare but devastating cancer suffered primarily by homosexuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV. The researchers found an HIV-positive man infected with HHV-8 faces a 50 percent chance of developing Kaposi's sarcoma within 10 years.

The odds increase with the number of years of same-sex sexual intercourse, the number of homosexual lovers, and the number of other sexually transmitted diseases contracted by the individual.

Lead study author Dr. Jeffrey Martin, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and medicine at the UCSF AIDS Research Institute says, "We believe we have eliminated the possibility that the apparent association between HHV-8 and Kaposi's sarcoma, seen in prior studies, was caused by anything but a direct causal relationship."

Senior study author Dr. Dean Kedes, UCSF assistant research microbiologist, calls this direct link the highlight of the important study.

In his words, "Even if we negate the differences in the numbers of sexual partners and just separate those HHV-8-infected versus not infected, if you are infected and HIV positive, you're in trouble."

Says study co-author Dr. Donald Ganem, UCSF professor of microbiology and medicine, "This study establishes clearly that the virus is sexually transmitted and strongly suggests it plays an important role in causing the disease."

Adds Kedes: "Our finding does not mean that HHV-8 is only transmitted via homosexual sex: It does suggest that in the population that is overwhelmingly the most likely to develop Kaposi's sarcoma, the major mode of transmission is sexual."

The large investigation, which used data from the San Francisco Men's Health Study begun in 1984, is the first of such magnitude to make the direct connection between the virus and the disease.

The scientists found infection with HHV-8 preceded development of the cancer, rather than the other way round, answering the riddle that has puzzled researchers since 1994, "What came first, the virus or the disease?"

The investigators tested the blood of 400 HIV-positive and 400 HIV- negative men for the antibody that would indicate the presence of HHV-8 in the body. They found the antibodies in 37.5 percent of the 594 men who reported homosexual encounters within the previous five years. They found no such antibodies in the 195 men who engaged solely in heterosexual sex.

Study co-author Dennis Osmond, UCSF associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and principal investigator of the Men's Health Study, says the findings point to the benefits of long-term, population-based epidemiologic investigations.

As a matter of fact, the authors note, their findings can prove useful in developing new treatments and using existing ones to stop the viral spread before it does its dastardly deed.

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