TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ingianni, Angela 
AU  - Madeddu, Maria A. 
AU  - Carta, Francesca 
AU  - Reina, Anna 
AU  - Lai, Carlo 
AU  - Pompei, Raffaello 
PY  - 2009
TI  - Epidemiology of Human Herpesvirus Type 8 Infection in Cardiopathic Patients
JF  - OnLine Journal of Biological Sciences
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
DO  - 10.3844/ojbsci.2009.36.39
UR  - https://thescipub.com/abstract/ojbsci.2009.36.39
AB  - Problem statement: The possible contribution of viruses to vascular 
pathology is still a controversial issue. Human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8) has 
been suggested to participate to the pathogenetic events associated with atherosclerotic 
lesion establishment and progression. Recently, a high incidence of infection 
of HHV-8 (11%) has been verified in the island of Sardinia. The aim of this study 
was to evaluate a possible relationship between the HHV-8 infection and cardiovascular 
diseases in the South of Sardinia. Approach: The presence of 
HHV-8 genome was detected in DNA extracted from peripheral leucocytes, by nested-PCR 
and Southern blotting, in either acute or chronic cardiopathic patients (n = 180); 
healthy blood donors were examined as controls (n = 108). Results: The 
results demonstrated a significant increase (p = 0.035) in HHV-8 DNA isolation 
from cardiopathic patients (22.8%) in comparison to healthy controls (12.0%). 
Conclusion: HHV8 infection can be considered, among others, as 
an additional risk factor for cardiovascular disease development, although it 
was not necessarily the starting cause. More extensive studies were needed to 
define the exact role of HHV-8 infection in cardiopathic patients.