Diversity of human herpesvirus 8 genotypes in patients with AIDS and non-AIDS associated Kaposi's sarcoma, Castleman's disease and primary effusion lymphoma in Argentina

Abstract

HHV-8 genotypes are distributed heterogeneously worldwide. The variable K1 gene and the conserved ORF26E region serve to genotype. The aim of the study was to characterize HHV-8 isolates from patients with AIDS, classical, and iatrogenic KS, primary effusion lymphoma and Castleman's disease and one organ donor from Argentina by analysis of ORFK1 and ORF26E regions. DNA was extracted from fresh or paraffin embedded biopsies, blood, and saliva samples and submitted to HHV-8 PCR. Phylogenetic analyses of ORFK1 showed that subtypes C (C1, C2, and C3), B1 and A (A1, A2, and A3) were present in 70.8%, 16.7%, and 12.5% of cases, respectively. Analyses of ORF26E fragment revealed that most strains (45.8%) were subtype A/C while the remaining fall into K, J, B2, R, and D subtypes. Linkage between ORFK1-ORF26E subtypes corresponded to reported relationships, except for one strain that clustered with B1 (K1 African) and D (ORF26E Asian-Pacific) subtypes. This research reveals predominance of subtype C, a broad spectrum of HHV-8 genotypes and reports the first isolation of the African B genotype in Argentina.

Lymphotropic Viruses EBV, KSHV and HTLV in Latin America: Epidemiology and Associated Malignancies. A Literature-Based Study by the RIAL-CYTED

“…There are five major KSHV genotypes described (A, B, C, D and E), mainly based on the hypervariable regions of the oncogenic K1 gene. Interestingly, in the series of studies from LA, while genotypes A, B and C [167,177,190,[200][201][202] were described in neoplasms or HIV positive cases, subtype E has been the sole genotype found in Amerindians from Ecuador, Brazil and French Guiana [190,195,197,[203][204][205]. Genotypes A and C are prevalent in Europe and North America, while genotype B is more prevalent in individuals with African ancestry [195].…”

“…There was also a case of PEL in an HIV positive patient [ 159 ], and a multiple myeloma patient with a bone marrow KSHV PCR positive [ 160 ]. We found three KSHV positive MCD from Argentina, two PEL and two KSHV positive DLBCL, all in HIV positive patients [ 13 , 165 , 166 , 167 ]. One of the DLBCL was also positive to EBV infection [ 164 ].…”

Genetic diversity and phylogeographic analysis of human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8) in two distant regions of Argentina: association with the genetic ancestry of the population

“…The detected subtypes are consistent with the ethnic origin of the Argentinean population, as a result of the Spanish colonization history of the country since the early 1500s, the introduction of African slaves and the subsequent waves of migration from Southern Europe between 1870 and 1950 (Corach et al, 2010; Avena et al, 2012; Vullo et al, 2015). Interestingly, in Argentina, African subtype B2 was first detected in individuals from the surrounding area of Buenos Aires (Pérez and Tous, 2017). However, in this study, this subtype was also identified in three HIV positive samples from the North-western region of the country.…”

“…Analyses using ORF-26 sequences are limited because of the very low variation of these genes precludes the distinction of genetic groups (Fouchard et al, 2000; Pérez and Tous, 2017). Therefore, the use of more variable genomic regions, such as ORF-K1 , is now widely accepted in molecular studies of the epidemiology of HHV-8 for determination of the origin, genetic evolution, transmissibility, and disease associations of this virus (Fouchard et al, 2000; Pérez and Tous, 2017). Unlike ORF-26 region, we achieved ORF-K1 amplification in only 32 samples obtained from HIV-1 infected subjects and KS patients.…”

“…The genetic diversity of HHV-8 ORF-K1 has been previously described in several South American populations: subtypes A, A5, B, C and E were described in Brazil (Nascimento et al, 2005; de Souza et al, 2007; Tozetto-Mendoza et al, 2016; de Oliveira Lopes at el., 2019); subtypes A, B, C and E in Peru (Cassar et al, 2010), and subtype E was found in French Guiana and Ecuador (Whitby et al, 2004; Kazanji et al, 2005). In Argentina, two previous reports, described the presence of subtypes A, B and C among patients diagnosed with KS, primary effusion lymphoma and Castleman’s disease and one organ donor from Buenos Aires city and its suburbs (Meng et al, 2001; Pérez and Tous, 2017).…”