High-dose zidovudine plus valganciclovir for Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus-associated multicentric Castleman disease: a pilot study of virus-activated cytotoxic therapy.

ABSTRACT: Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV)-associated multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) is a lymphoproliferative disorder most commonly observed in HIV-infected patients. It is characterized by KSHV-infected plasmablasts that frequently express lytic genes. Patients manifest inflammatory symptoms attributed to overproduction of KSHV viral IL-6, human IL-6, and human IL-6. There is no standard therapy and no established response criteria. We investigated an approach targeting 2 KSHV lytic genes, ORF36 and ORF21, the protein of which, respectively, phosphorylate ganciclovir and zidovudine to toxic moieties. In a pilot study, 14 HIV-infected patients with symptomatic KSHV-MCD received high-dose zidovudine (600 mg orally every 6 hours) and the oral prodrug, valganciclovir (900 mg orally every 12 hou

SUBMITTER: Uldrick TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3143547 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature