An Interleukin‐6–Related Systemic Inflammatory Syndrome in Patients Co‐Infected with Kaposi Sarcoma–Associated Herpesvirus and HIV but without Multicentric Castleman Disease

Authors

Thomas Uldrick•Denise Whitby•Robert Yarchoan

Published

June 28, 2010

Abstract

Background. Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the causal agent for Kaposi sarcoma (KS) and multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Patients with KSHV-MCD develop fevers, wasting, hypoalbuminemia, cytopenias, and hyponatremia that are related to overproduction of KSHV-encoded viral interleukin (IL)-6 (vIL-6) and human IL-6 (hIL-6).