Absence of human herpes virus 8 DNA sequences in large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia.

The etiology of large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia is uncertain. Recently, a Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus, denoted as human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8), has been identified. Some data suggest that HHV-8 and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) may interact to induce malignant transformation. Infection with EBV has been implicated in the pathogenesis of some cases of LGL leukemia. Therefore, we performed PCR analyses for HHV-8 detection in samples from nineteen patients with LGL leukemia; three of these samples contained the EBV genome. We could not detect HHV-8 sequences in any of these patients. Therefore, HHV-8 infection is not involved in the pathogenesis of T-LGL leukemia.