The role of immunosuppression and immune-activation in classic Kaposi's sarcoma

✍ Scribed by Giota Touloumi; Angelos Hatzakis; Irini Potouridou; Ioanna Milona; John Strarigos; Andreas Katsambas; Gaetano Giraldo; Elke Beth-Giraldo; Robert J. Biggar; Nancy Mueller; Dimitrios Trichopoulos

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 62 KB
• Volume: 82
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19990909)82:6<817::aid-ijc8>3.0.co;2-7

✦ Synopsis

Immunodeficiency and elevated levels of cytokines have been associated with the development of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) lesions in patients with AIDS and iatrogenic immunodeficiency. However, their role in classic KS (CKS) is unclear. We measured peripheral blood cell levels, including T-cell subsets, as well as neopterin and ␤ 2 -microglobulin in 91 HIV-negative Greek patients with histologically confirmed CKS and in 107 controls matched for age and sex. CKS cases had slightly lower leukocyte counts (p ‫؍‬ 0.08) and lymphocyte counts (p ‫؍‬ 0.02). Although the percentage of CD4 and CD8 T-lymphocytes were not significantly different from controls (p ‫؍‬ 0.10 and p ‫؍‬ 0.45, respectively), CD4 Tlymphocytes were lower in cases than controls (812 cells/L and 1,009 cells/L, respectively; p ‫؍‬ 0.01); part of this difference resulted from the lower lymphocyte counts (p ‫؍‬ 0.07 after adjusting for lymphocyte counts). However, neopterin and ␤ 2 -microglobulin were both considerably elevated [geometric mean (95% CI): 8.35 (7.27-9.73) nmol/L and 2,904 (2,479-3,401) g/L in cases and 5.86 (5.40-6.35) nmol/L and 2,042 (1,880-2,218) g/L in controls, respectively]. We conclude that CKS patients are predominantly characterised by immune activation, although an element of minor immunosupression may also be present.