Monini P, de Lellis L, Fabris M, Rigolin F, Cassai E
Institute of Microbiology, University of Ferrara, Italy.
N Engl J Med. 1996 May 2;334(18):1168-72. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199605023341805.
Sequences of novel herpesvirus, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), have been indentified in Kaposi's sarcoma tissue, but it is not known whether the virus is transmitted by sexual contact.
Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we searched for KSHV DNA sequences in ejaculates from 43 healthy men and tissue from the urogenital tract or prostate of 100 immunocompetent adults.
In an unblinded analysis, we identified KSHV DNA sequences in 2 of 20 tissue specimens from the urinary tract (10 percent; 15 men and 5 women), 3 of 46 specimens from the female genital tract (6.5 percent), 4 of 18 specimens from the glans or foreskin (22 percent), 7 of 16 specimens from the prostate (44 percent), and 30 or 33 ejaculates (91 percent). By contrast, such sequences were present in 1 of 18 samples of normal skin (5.5 percent) and 1 of 14 samples of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs; 7.1 percent). Ejaculates and PBMC samples from each of 10 study subjects were analyzed in a blinded, coded fashion, along with PBMCs and biopsy specimens of normal skin from 4 and 8 other patients, respectively. This analysis confirmed the presence of KSHV DNA sequences in semen. Viral DNA was not found in the sperm heads but was present in the fraction of the ejaculates that contained urothelial and other types of cells. Point mutations were found in PCR products amplified from both prostate tissue and sperm samples.
KSHV infects a large proportion of healthy adults and is probably transmitted by sexual contact.
在卡波西肉瘤组织中已鉴定出新型疱疹病毒——卡波西肉瘤相关疱疹病毒（KSHV）的序列，但尚不清楚该病毒是否通过性接触传播。
我们使用聚合酶链反应（PCR），在43名健康男性的精液以及100名免疫功能正常成年人的泌尿生殖道或前列腺组织中寻找KSHV DNA序列。
在一项非盲法分析中，我们在20份尿路组织标本中的2份（10%；15名男性和5名女性）、46份女性生殖道标本中的3份（6.5%）、18份龟头或包皮标本中的4份（22%）、16份前列腺标本中的7份（44%）以及33份精液中的30份（91%）中鉴定出KSHV DNA序列。相比之下，在18份正常皮肤样本中的1份（5.5%）和14份外周血单核细胞（PBMC）样本中的1份（7.1%）中存在此类序列。对10名研究对象的每份精液和PBMC样本，以及分别来自另外其他4名和8名患者的PBMC和正常皮肤活检标本进行了盲法编码分析。该分析证实精液中存在KSHV DNA序列。在精子头部未发现病毒DNA，但在含有尿路上皮细胞和其他类型细胞的精液部分中存在。从前列腺组织和精子样本扩增的PCR产物中发现了点突变。
KSHV感染了很大比例的健康成年人，且可能通过性接触传播。
