Effect of RTCM on HHV-8 DNA Detection in Cultured PBMC and Serological Status of the Patients
| Patients . | PCR-Positive/Total Cultures (%) . | Serology . | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| −RTCM . | +RTCM . | Increased Signal . | Conversion to Positivity . | Total Responders . | Responders . | Nonresponders . | |
| KS | |||||||
| AIDS-KS | 6/19 (31%) | 12/19 (63%) | 5/19 (26%) | 7/19 (37%) | 12/19 (63%)3-150 | 8/8 (100%) | 7/7 (100%) |
| CKS | 0/6 (0%) | 1/6 (17%) | 0/6 (0%) | 1/6 (17%) | 1/6 (17%) | 1/1 (100%) | 5/5 (100%) |
| PT-KS | 0/1 (0%) | 0/1 (0%) | 0/1 (0%) | 0/1 (0%) | 0/1 (0%) | — | 1/1 (100%) |
| Total | 6/26 (23%) | 13/26 (50%) | 5/26 (19%) | 8/26 (31%) | 13/26 (50%) | 9/9 (100%) | 13/13 (100%) |
| At risk of KS | |||||||
| NKS-AIDS | 0/5 (0%) | 0/5 (0%) | 0/5 (0%) | 0/5 (0%) | 0/5 (0%) | — | 3/5 (60%) |
| HIV+ | 0/6 (0%) | 1/6 (17%) | 0/6 (0%) | 1/6 (17%) | 1/6 (17%) | 1/1 (100%) | 4/5 (80%) |
| PT | 0/8 (0%) | 1/8 (12%) | 0/8 (0%) | 1/8 (12%) | 1/8 (12%) | 1/1 (100%) | 5/5 (100%) |
| Total | 0/19 (0%) | 2/19 (10%) | 0/19 (0%) | 2/19 (10%) | 2/19 (10%) | 2/2 (100%) | 12/15 (80%) |
| Patients . | PCR-Positive/Total Cultures (%) . | Serology . | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| −RTCM . | +RTCM . | Increased Signal . | Conversion to Positivity . | Total Responders . | Responders . | Nonresponders . | |
| KS | |||||||
| AIDS-KS | 6/19 (31%) | 12/19 (63%) | 5/19 (26%) | 7/19 (37%) | 12/19 (63%)3-150 | 8/8 (100%) | 7/7 (100%) |
| CKS | 0/6 (0%) | 1/6 (17%) | 0/6 (0%) | 1/6 (17%) | 1/6 (17%) | 1/1 (100%) | 5/5 (100%) |
| PT-KS | 0/1 (0%) | 0/1 (0%) | 0/1 (0%) | 0/1 (0%) | 0/1 (0%) | — | 1/1 (100%) |
| Total | 6/26 (23%) | 13/26 (50%) | 5/26 (19%) | 8/26 (31%) | 13/26 (50%) | 9/9 (100%) | 13/13 (100%) |
| At risk of KS | |||||||
| NKS-AIDS | 0/5 (0%) | 0/5 (0%) | 0/5 (0%) | 0/5 (0%) | 0/5 (0%) | — | 3/5 (60%) |
| HIV+ | 0/6 (0%) | 1/6 (17%) | 0/6 (0%) | 1/6 (17%) | 1/6 (17%) | 1/1 (100%) | 4/5 (80%) |
| PT | 0/8 (0%) | 1/8 (12%) | 0/8 (0%) | 1/8 (12%) | 1/8 (12%) | 1/1 (100%) | 5/5 (100%) |
| Total | 0/19 (0%) | 2/19 (10%) | 0/19 (0%) | 2/19 (10%) | 2/19 (10%) | 2/2 (100%) | 12/15 (80%) |
PBMC from some of the individuals shown in Table 1 were cultured for 6 to 7 days with RPMI or RTCM and the same cell number (105) was analyzed by PCR. Responders are defined as those patients whose PBMC showed either an increase in the PCR signal or converted to PCR positivity with RTCM. All patients’ DNA were positive for β-globin amplification. HHV-8 seroprevalence of patients that responded or not to RTCM is also shown. The percentages of responders to RTCM was slightly lower as compared with TCM, particularly for AIDS-KS patients. The percentage of patients (AIDS-KS plus NKS-AIDS) that responded to treatment with RTCM was significantly higher than that who responded without RTCM (Mc-Nemar test for matched dychotomous data; P < .01).
One AIDS-KS patient was PCR-positive only in PBMC cultured without RTCM.