Nature medicine
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Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a previously rare, tumour-like lesion of controversial biological nature. KS has since the early 1980s become frequent in patients with AIDS, particularly in homosexuals. ⋯ 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.