Association of Mycosis Fungoides and Large Plaque Parapsoriasis with Human Herpes Virus 8

The association of the human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) with Mycosis fungoides (MF) and large plaque parapsoriasis (LPP) has been assessed previously and contradictory results were reported. Although it was investigated in different countries and different ethnic groups, there was no study concerning Iranian population with these lymphoproliferative diseases. We aimed to assess the association of HHV-8 with MF and LPP in biopsy samples of Iranian patients with these lymphoproliferative conditions. Paraffin-embedded samples from patients who were diagnosed by histopathological examination as MF or LPP were assessed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in a molecular epidemiology case-control study. Primerdesign Genesig kit for HHV-8 Genomes was used to extract total DNA. Samples from chronic dermatitis were used as control; five samples from patients with kaposi sarcoma were used as positive control in PCR. The investigated samples consisted of 13 patient with MF, 10 patients with LPP, and 23 patients with chronic dermatitis; the diagnosis of these skin conditions were confirmed histopathologically. The RT-PCR could not detect HHV-8 DNA sequence in any of the examined samples, ie. MF, LPP, and chronic dermatitis. The PCR results for all kaposi sarcoma samples were positive for HHV-8 genome. There was no association between HHV-8 and MF or LPP in Iranian population. This is in accordance with most of the reports from different countries.