Epidemiology, pathophysiology, and treatment of Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus disease: Kaposi sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman disease

Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infection is associated with the development of 3 proliferative diseases: Kaposi sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman disease. These conditions are also intimately associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection, and important synergistic interactions between these 2 viruses have been described. Despite differences in viral gene expression patterns in each condition, Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus encodes similar oncogenic proteins that promote the activation of sequential and parallel signaling pathways. Therapeutic strategies have been implemented to target these unique signaling pathways, and this sort of molecular targeting is the focus of many current research efforts. The scope of this review is to present contemporary knowledge about the epidemiology, virology, and immunology of Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and to highlight several key oncogene products that may be targets for chemotherapy.