Analytical & Bioanalytical Techniques

Biography

Biography: Cheng-Chuan Su

Abstract

Human herpes virus type 8 (HHV-8) is the etiologic agent of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS). The incidence of KS in renal transplant patients is much higher than in healthy controls. The risk is even higher among recipients seropositive for HHV-8 before transplantation. Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are immuno compromised and are candidates for renal transplantation, but HHV-8 seroprevalence in ESRD patients was not well documented. Our previous study showed that seropositivity and titers for HHV-8 antibodies with immunofluorescence assay (IFA) as well as seropositivity with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were significantly greater in ESRD patients than in healthy controls (P = 0.006, 0.001 and 0.003, respectively). Patients with a history of taking herbal medicine had significantly greater ELISA positivity than those without such a history (P=0.004). ELISA positives, particularly patients, had much higher IFA antibody titers than ELISA negatives (P<0.0001). Seropositivity in ESRD patients was not related to lymphopaenia, monocytosis, dialysis duration, or a history of transfusion. Two diabetic ESRD patients were positive for HHV-8 DNA. However, other studies indicated that ESRD patients and healthy controls had similar HHV-8 seroprevalence. Hence, we further investigated whether this discrepancy is due to the effect of uremic status. The results showed that HHV-8 seropositivities based on IFA and ELISA, both before and after hemodialysis, were significantly greater in ESRD patients than in healthy controls (p<0.008 for all comparisons). The seropositivities and antibody titers of ESRD patients obtained with IFA were similar before and after hemodialysis. Seropositivities based on ELISA were identical before and after hemodialysis. The seropositivities obtained with the IFA markedly exceeded those with ELISA in each group of subjects (p<0.0001 for all comparisons).