Human herpesvirus type 8 in patients with cirrhosis independent of thrombocytopenia
- 1Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan
- 2Department of Family Medicine, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan
- 3Departments of Clinical Pathology and Anatomic Pathology, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan
- 4Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
- Correspondence to Dr Cheng-Chuan Su, Department of Clinical Pathology, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, 2 Minsheng Road, Dalin Town, Chiayi County 622, Taiwan; sucpo{at}yahoo.com.tw
- Accepted 11 December 2009
Abstract
Background High seroprevalence of human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8) in patients with cirrhosis has been reported to be associated with thrombocytopenia. Severe cirrhosis is always complicated with ascites. HHV-8 DNA levels in effusion from patients with primary effusion lymphoma has been reported to be significantly greater than in blood. The status of HHV-8 antibody and DNA in cirrhotic ascites is unclear.
Aims To assess the status of HHV-8 antibody and DNA in cirrhotic ascites compared to that in cirrhotic plasma.
Methods Plasma and ascites samples were collected from 85 patients with cirrhosis. HHV-8 antibody and DNA were detected by immunofluorescence assay and PCR, respectively.
Results Male patients seropositive for HHV-8 antibody were significantly younger than seropositive female patients (p=0.0039). The seropositive rate in patients with cirrhosis was not associated with thrombocytopenia (p=0.6860). Both positive rate and titres of antibody in plasma were much greater than in ascites (p<0.0001). More male or Child–Pugh class C than female or class B seropositive patients were positive for ascites. No hepatitis C virus-related ascites were positive for antibody. Neither plasma nor ascites samples from any subject were positive for HHV-8 DNA.
Conclusions In patients with cirrhosis, the seropositive rate for HHV-8 antibody is independent of thrombocytopenia. The positive rate for HHV-8 antibody in cirrhotic ascites seems to be associated with sex, disease severity and disease aetiology.
- HHV-8
- human herpesvirus type 8
- KS
- Kaposi's sarcoma
- PEL
- primary effusion lymphoma
- HBsAg
- hepatitis B virus surface antigen
- HBV
- hepatitis B virus
- HCV
- hepatitis
- C
- virus
- IFA
- immunofluorescence assay
Footnotes
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Funding This study was supported by grants DTCRD 95(2)-04 and DTCRD 97-04 from the Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.
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Competing interests None.
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Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the institutional review board of the Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital.
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Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.
