Human Herpesvirus 8 Variants in Iranian Kaposi’s Sarcoma Patients

Background: Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is a mesenchymal tumor involving blood and lymphaticvessels. KS is a rare cancer in Iran and there is no epidemiological and molecular informationabout HHV-8 variants circulating among the Iranian population.Materials and methods: HHV-8 variant distribution has been analyzed in 41 cutaneousbiopsies from Iranian patients with KS that were collected from 2000 to 2009 from RaziHospital in Tehran. DNA samples have been subjected to PCR amplification of HHV-8 ORFK1 followed by direct nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analysis.Results: Genotyping of K1 sequences showed that the majority of samples 39 (95.1%) fallinto the large C clade with only 2 (4.9%) belonging to A clade.Conclusions: HHV-8 variants identified in Iranian KS are largely related to Eurasiangenotypes previously identified in KS from Mediterranean, Middle East, and East Asianregions.