AIDS CLINICAL CARE JULY 1995 p.60
Kaposi’s sarcoma, including the HIV-related form, is more common in men
than women. A provocative international study proposes both an
explanation and a novel treatment: the pregnancy hormone human chorionic
gonadatropin (hCG).
Noting that KS lesions in two African HIV-positive women disappeared
after the women became pregnant, researchers performed several
experiments suggesting that hCG inhibits KS tumor growth. First,
immunodeficient mice injected with KS tumor cells derived from an AIDS
patient were spared from tumor development if they became pregnant or
were inoculated during early pregnancy (those inoculated in later
pregnancy developed relatively small, non-metastatic tumors). Similarly,
growth was inhibited in KS cells exposed to sera from pregnant mice or
pregnant women. Next, both purified hCG and the hormone’s betachain
inhibited–in dose-dependent fashion–growth of KS cell lines derived
from patients with and without HIV. Finally, mice given hCG before
injection of KS cells were protected from tumor development, hCG
apparently killed the KS tumor cells selectively through apoptosis.
The authors note that luteinizing hormone (LH), which is secreted
cyclically by all menstruating women, bears some structural resemblance
to hCG, and speculate that LH may also have antitumor properties. Their
intriguing findings bear further investigation.
Lunardi-Iskandar Y et al. Tumorigenesis and metastasis of neoplastic
Kaposi’s sarcoma cell line in immunodeficient mice blocked by a human
pregnancy hormone. Nature 1995 May 4; 375: 64-8.
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-James M. Scutero, original proponent of misc.health.aids
misc.health.aids WWW homepage: http://www.panix.com/~jscutero
In <3ur6ko$…@panix.com> jscut…@panix.com (James Scutero) writes:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
>AIDS CLINICAL CARE JULY 1995 p.60
>Kaposi’s sarcoma, including the HIV-related form, is more common in
men
>than women. A provocative international study proposes both an
>explanation and a novel treatment: the pregnancy hormone human
chorionic
>gonadatropin (hCG).
> Noting that KS lesions in two African HIV-positive women
disappeared
>after the women became pregnant, researchers performed several
>experiments suggesting that hCG inhibits KS tumor growth. First,
>immunodeficient mice injected with KS tumor cells derived from an AIDS
>patient were spared from tumor development if they became pregnant or
>were inoculated during early pregnancy (those inoculated in later
>pregnancy developed relatively small, non-metastatic tumors).
Similarly,
>growth was inhibited in KS cells exposed to sera from pregnant mice or
>pregnant women. Next, both purified hCG and the hormone’s betachain
>inhibited–in dose-dependent fashion–growth of KS cell lines derived
>from patients with and without HIV. Finally, mice given hCG before
>injection of KS cells were protected from tumor development, hCG
>apparently killed the KS tumor cells selectively through apoptosis.
> The authors note that luteinizing hormone (LH), which is secreted
>cyclically by all menstruating women, bears some structural
resemblance
>to hCG, and speculate that LH may also have antitumor properties.
Their
>intriguing findings bear further investigation.
>Lunardi-Iskandar Y et al. Tumorigenesis and metastasis of neoplastic
>Kaposi’s sarcoma cell line in immunodeficient mice blocked by a human
>pregnancy hormone. Nature 1995 May 4; 375: 64-8.
This would also explain much– for instance why KS in American before
AIDS was a disease of elderly men, not women. Women reach much higher
LH levels than men, and after menopause in women, they go even higher.
Children, of course, have much lower LH levels in both sexes, but here
the different sanitary conditions between the US and Africa may play a
critical role, just as they do for EBV. In the US, EBV infection is
often delayed until after puberty (mono has been called "kissing
disease", and I’ve seen a lot of it in highschool and college
students). In the third world, however, kids get it very early. If
the KS agent, a relative of EBV, is similarly spread by saliva, or by a
fecal-oral route, that would leave little opportunity for it in
children in the US (although it IS occasionally seen here in children,
and I have posted abstracts). After puberty, hormones and a better
immune system generally protect Americans, and it takes a fair amount
if immunosuppression plus some unsanitary contact to get KS. In old
age, when immunity decreases again, women are selectively protected by
pituitary hormones, and men are not.
The last mystery is why elderly men of Jewish or Mediterranean decent
in the U.S.? Genetics? Something cultural like more family kissing?
It sure isn’t popper use <g>.
Steve Harris, M.D.
In <3ur5no$…@panix.com> jscut…@panix.com (James Scutero) writes:
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>A role for a new herpes virus (KSHV) in different forms of Kaposi’s
sarcoma
>Martin Schalling(1), Marianne Ekman(2), Ephata E. Kaaya(2)
>Annika Linde(3) & Peter Biberfeld(2)
>(1) Neurogenetics Unit, Department of Molecular Medicine,
>(2)Immunopatholgy Laboratory, Karolinska Institute and Hospital, S-171
76
>Stockholm, Sweden
>(3) Department of Virology, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease
>Control, S-105-21 Stockholm, Sweden
>Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is a previously rare, tumour-like lesion of
>controversial biological nature(1,2). KS has since the early 1980s
become
>frequent in patients with AIDS, particularly in homosexuals(3). KS is
>also endemic in Central Africa predominantly in otherwise healthy men
but
>also in women and children(1,4). Recently, evidence for the presence
of
>novel, herpes virus DNA sequences in more than 90% of AIDS Kaposi
lesions
>(AKS) was presented(5). This DNA was identified using representational
>difference analysis (RDA) generating short, unique sequences with
>variable homology to several herpes virus, but no intact virus was
>recovered. If these DNA-sequences are also present in other,
>non-HIV-associated forms of Kaposi’s sarcoma this would strongly
suggest
>a specific, aetiopathological involvement of this putative new herpes
>virus in the pathogenesis of Kaposi’s sarcoma, rather than a
>contamination of yet another opportunistic virus in immunosuppressed
AIDS
>patients.
>We have examined samples, by PCR, for the presence of the putative
>Kaposi’s sarcoma herpes virus (KSHV). KS DNA from HIV-negative,
African,
>endemic (EKS) samples, and epidemic HIV-positive KS (AKS) and sporadic
KS
>(SKS) samples were tested, from Tanzania and Sweden. All of the HIV-
KS
>(18 African EKS and four Swedish SKS), as well as the HIV+
AIDS-related
>KS (16 African and seven Swedish AKS) biopsies were shown to contain
the
>previously described DNA sequence(5). The study included KS lesions
from
>children, females, and males, in various tissues including skin, lymph
>nodes, gut and oral mucosa. All forms of KS showed a single PCR
product
>of the expected size (233 base pairs (bp)). The PCR products also
>hybridized with a (32)P-labelled 40-bp internal oligonucleotide
>confirming the specificity of the observed products. To exclude
>amplification of other types of herpes virus, virus preparations of
>Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), herpes simplex virus (HSV 1 & 2),
>cytomegalovirus (CMV), vesicular stomatitis (VZV) and human herpes
virus
>type 6 (HHV6) were assayed, again by PCR, using the KSHV primers. No
PCR
>products were obtained with any of these virus strains. However, most
>HIV+ and HIV- KS DNA samples also contained either EBV and/or HHV6
>sequences. All biopsies from non-KS tissues (cells) of HIV+ and HIV-
>individuals were consistently negative for KSHV by PCR.
> The observation that the same herpes viruslike DNA sequence is
>present in endemic and sporadic, as well as AIDS-related, Kaposi’s
>sarcoma cases suggests a possible pathogenic association between this
>putative novel, herpeslike virus and KS. We therefore agree that the
>herpes viruslike DNA sequences described by Chang et al.(5), may
indeed
>represent a novel herpes virus (KSHV), aetiopathologically associated
>with various clinical forms of Kaposi’s sarcoma. Its pathogenic
>importance is further indicated by its presence in different KS
tissues
>(skin, lymph node, gut and oral tissues) with various clinical types
of
>KS (AKS, EKS, SKS) in men, women and children and its absence from
>non-KS-involved tissues. Furthermore, the presence of KSHV in KS of
>children suggests a non-sexual mode of transmission.
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Comment: Yep. Looking worse and worse for the nitrite theory of KS
all the time. As predicted. This paper comes close to wrapping it
up. From the epidemiology (which looks a lot like that of amoebiasis)
I suspect the new KS herpes agent is spread by the fecal oral route,
and does not appear in blood products.
Steve Harris, M.D.
In article <3urtt9$…@ixnews5.ix.netcom.com>
sbhar…@ix.netcom.com (Steven B. Harris ) writes:
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>In <3ur5no$…@panix.com> jscut…@panix.com (James Scutero) writes:
>>A role for a new herpes virus (KSHV) in different forms of Kaposi’s
>sarcoma
>>Martin Schalling(1), Marianne Ekman(2), Ephata E. Kaaya(2)
>>Annika Linde(3) & Peter Biberfeld(2)
>>(1) Neurogenetics Unit, Department of Molecular Medicine,
>>(2)Immunopatholgy Laboratory, Karolinska Institute and Hospital, S-171
>76
>>Stockholm, Sweden
>>(3) Department of Virology, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease
>>Control, S-105-21 Stockholm, Sweden
>Comment: Yep. Looking worse and worse for the nitrite theory of KS
>all the time. As predicted. This paper comes close to wrapping it
>up. From the epidemiology (which looks a lot like that of amoebiasis)
>I suspect the new KS herpes agent is spread by the fecal oral route,
>and does not appear in blood products.
> Steve Harris, M.D.
I forgot to mention that this paper is from NATURE MEDICINE, VOLUME 1,
NUMBER 7, JULY 1995.
Another connection of this herpes virus to KS is the finding
that was reported at a conference in Glascow last year BEFORE the
discovery of KSHV. One researcher reported the remission of KS in 2
patients (I think it was 2) after they were treated with the antiviral drug,
foscarnet. I believe that Dr. Alan Friedman-Kien of NYU Medical Center
here in NYC is now doing a trial of foscarnet for KS.
********************************************************************
-James M. Scutero, original proponent of misc.health.aids
misc.health.aids WWW homepage: http://www.panix.com/~jscutero