TY - JOUR T1 - Seroprevalence of human herpesvirus type 8 infection in patients with lung carcinoma JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 40 IS - Suppl 56 SP - P1236 AU - Shih-Ming Tsao AU - Chun-Liang Lai AU - Ming Nan Lin AU - Cheng-Chuan Su Y1 - 2012/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P1236.abstract N2 - Background: Human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8) DNA is found consistently in all types of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), which is sometimes seen in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) non-infected patients with immunologic abnormalities. Lung carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies developing in immunocompromised patients. However, the prevalence of HHV-8 infection in lung carcinoma patients is unclear. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 109 lung carcinoma patients with malignant pleural effusion and 109 age-matched healthy controls and analyzed for lymphocyte and monocyte counts, and presence of HHV-8 antibody and DNA. All study subjects were negative for anti-HIV antibodies. Results: Lung carcinoma patients had significantly lower mean lymphocyte counts and significantly higher monocyte counts than the healthy controls (P < 0.001). Three patients with lymphopenia and stage IV tumor were positive for HHV-8 DNA , one of them was negative for HHV-8 antibody. HHV-8 positivity was significantly higher in patients (42.2%), particularly in male patients (50.8%), than in healthy controls (24.8%) (P = 0.006 and < 0.001, respectively). HHV-8 positivity was significantly greater in male patients (50.8%) than in female patients (29.5%) (P = 0.028), and in patients with stage IV tumors somewhat greater than with stage III B tumors (P = 0.416). HHV-8 antibody titers in patients also significantly exceeded those in healthy controls (P = 0.004). All subjects positive for HHV-8 were not associated with clinical manifestations of HHV-8 infection. Conclusions: HHV-8 seroprevalence was significantly greater in lung carcinoma patients than in healthy controls, and associated with gender. ER -