Significance of Oral KS in an African Setting

描述(申请人提供)：卡波西肉瘤(KS)肿瘤是一种常见的疾病表现，当KS发生在津巴布韦和其他非洲地区的获得性免疫缺陷综合征(AIDS-KS)患者中。尽管口腔KS在非洲艾滋病患者中很常见，但人们对这种情况下口腔KS的临床和病毒学相关性知之甚少。由于AIDS-KS目前是非洲许多地区最常见的恶性肿瘤，因此更好地了解口腔KS病在非洲艾滋病患者中的意义是很重要的。本申请中提出的研究是科罗拉多大学健康科学中心和津巴布韦大学医学院的研究人员合作进行的。拟议的研究将调查这一假设，即与没有口腔KS疾病的艾滋病-KS患者相比，有口腔KS病变的非洲人之间存在重要的免疫学和病毒学差异。拟议研究的具体目标是： 1.建立口腔KS患者的KS组织、血浆、外周血单核细胞和唾液的储存库，用于研究非洲口腔KS的发病机制。 2.确定非洲AIDS-KS患者中是否存在CD4+淋巴细胞计数或血浆HIV-1RNA与口腔KS之间的关系。 3.比较口腔和皮肤KS皮损中HHV-8基因的表达模式。 4.评估口腔KS病变与非洲流行的HHV-8亚型之间的潜在联系。口服KS是非洲艾滋病KS患者疾病进展风险增加的标志。预计这些研究结果将为在非洲资源有限地区引进当代抗逆转录病毒治疗方案提供有用的信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) tumors are a common disease manifestation when KS occurs in persons with the acquirred immunodeficiency syndorme (AIDS-KS) in Zimbabwe and other African settings. Despite the commoness of oral KS in African AIDS patients, little is known about the clinical and virological correlates of oral KS in this setting. Since AIDS-KS is currently the most frequent malignancy in many areas of Africa, it is important to better understand the significance of oral KS disease in African AIDS patients. The studies proposed in the present application are collaboration between investigators at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and the University of Zimbabwe Medical School. The proposed studies will investigate the hypothesis that important immunologic and virologic differences exist between Africans who have oral KS lesions as a manifestation of AIDS-KS, compared to Africans with AIDS-KS without oral KS disease. The specific aims of the proposed studies are: 1. To establish a repository of KS tissue, plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and saliva from persons with oral KS for use in studies of the pathogenesis of oral KS in Africa. 2. To determine if there is an association between CD4+ lymphocyte count or plasma HIV-1 RNA and the presence of oral KS in Africans with AIDS-KS. 3. To compare the patterns of HHV-8 gene expression in oral and cutaneous KS lesions. 4. To evaluate potential associations between oral KS lesions and HHV-8 subtypes that are prevalent in Africa. That oral KS is a marker increased risk of disease progression in Africans with AIDS-KS. It is expected that the results of these studies will provide useful information to programs for introduction of contemporary antiretroviral treatment in resource-limited areas of Africa.