Colocalization of the viral interleukin-6 with latent nuclear antigen-1 of human herpesvirus-8 in endothelial spindle cells of Kaposi's sarcoma and lymphoid cells of multicentric Castleman's disease

Human herpesvirus-8 (HHN-8) also called Raposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infects spindle cells in Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and lymphoid cells in multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD). In KS cells, HHV-8 is mainly latent with the expression of latent nuclear antigen-1 (LNA-1), whereas in MCD both lyric and latent antigens are produced by lymphoid cells. We show by immunohistochemical labeling that in KS viral interleukin-6 (vIL-6) is expressed in rare spindle cells, whereas in MCD, vIL-6 is detectable in lymphoid cells around lymphoid follicles but also within the follicular dendritic reticulum cell network. The staining of apoptotic bodies with anti-IL-6 antibody suggests the achievement of a complete lytic cycle in a subset of lymphoid cells. Interestingly, in MCD, some areas contained vascular spindle cells latently infected by HHN-8 on the basis of LNA-1 expression. This finding might imply that in MCD, both vascular and lymphoid cells proliferate in response to the viral infection. Double immunostaining with anti-LNA-1 and anti-vIL-6 in MCD and KS identifies 2 subsets of HHV-8-infected (vascular and lymphoid) cells, some with exclusive expression of LNA-1 and some with coexpression of vIL-6 and LNA-1. This suggests that in vivo the regulation of the expression vIL-6 and LNA-1 protein varies with the cell type. In addition, the detection of infected endothelial cells in MCD may indicate that these cells belong to the reservoir for HHV-8. Copyright (C) 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company.