Human herpesvirus 8(HHV-8) is thought to be essential for the development of all forms of Kaposi's sarcoma(KS).HHV-8 DNA is present virtually in all KS tumor biopsy samples.Genes at both ends of the HHV-8 genome have been shown to vary considerably.Seven major molecular subtypes of HHV-8 were defined based on the amino acid sequence of the open reading frame K1(ORF-K1),generally known as A,B,C,D,E,F,and Z.Most strains collected worldwide were clustered into two subtypes(A and C).Here,the K1/VR1 region of HHV-8 was amplified by nested PCR in 22(81.48%) of 27 cases from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,a province in northwestern China.Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of the K1/VR1 amino acid sequence indicated that the majority of these KS patients were infected by subtype C HHV-8(n=18,including 15 belonging to the C2 group),and several by subtype A(n=4,including 3 being the A1 group).This is the first report of subtype A HHV-8 in China.Furthermore,the correlations between different forms and lesions of KS and different subtypes of HHV-8 were analyzed.The findings showed that subtype A HHV-8 resulted in significantly more frequent mucosal KS lesions than subtype C.However,there was no obvious correlation between different forms of KS and different subtypes of HHV-8.
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