<> "The repository administrator has not yet configured an RDF license."^^ . <> . . "Comparison of viral titers and cytokine profiles between males and females at risk of kaposi's sarcoma development"^^ . "Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is the causative agent of Kaposi’s sarcoma- a cancerous tumor of endothelial origin. Development of KS among men who have sex with men (MSM) is\r\npreceded by viral reactivation as determined by increasing viral antibody levels and viral load in circulating immune cells. Thus, prevention of viral reactivation should result in decreased KS incidence.\r\nHHV-8 infection rates are not significantly different between men and women, yet the occurrence of KS is dramatically different between genders. The prevalence of KS in MSM (15-60%) is more frequent than that of heterosexual men (0-9%), and occurs even less frequently\r\n(<1%) in the female population. Males are approximately around 13 times more likely to develop KS than women. This strong sexual bias brings up several possible factors that may explain the disparity between KS development and HHV-8 infection rates between men and women. Two of these factors are: First, a more robust natural immune response occurs in women following a primary infection, resulting in higher viral antibody titers. The presence of higher viral antibody\r\ntiters may control viral reactivation, thus reducing the risk of KS development. Second, there may be a hormonal regulation of viral reactivation. Our laboratory has found the presence of functional estrogen response elements in the HHV-8 genome and preliminary results suggest that\r\nin the presence of estrogen, spontaneous reactivation of HHV-8 in B cells is reduced. Prevention of viral reactivation would decrease KS development and in this hypothesis, viral antibody titers would be decreased among women due to the lack of viral reactivation (compared to men). In addition, increased viral reactivation among men may result in increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines, which would further modulate their immune response.\r\nTo test the hypotheses that men and women mount differing immune responses to HHV-8 infection, HHV-8 antibody titers were determined in cohorts of men and women at risk of\r\ndeveloping KS. Circulating proinflammatory cytokine profiles were also analyzed between HHV-8 infected males and females to determine if levels of proinflammatory cytokines differ between genders. It is hypothesized that women will have a more robust immune response\r\nresulting in fewer viral reactivation events while men, due to a lessened immune response will reactivate more frequently, and as a result will have higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines compared to women. The public health significance of this thesis is in regards to more effective treatments to combat or suppress KS development in males."^^ . "2014-09-29" . . . . . . . . "Jessica"^^ . "Battaglia"^^ . "Jessica Battaglia"^^ . . . . . . "Comparison of viral titers and cytokine profiles between males and females at risk of kaposi's sarcoma development (PDF)"^^ . . . . . . . . "BattagliaJ_2014_thesis-4.pdf"^^ . . . "Comparison of viral titers and cytokine profiles between males and females at risk of kaposi's sarcoma development (Indexer Terms)"^^ . . . . . . "indexcodes.txt"^^ . . . "Comparison of viral titers and cytokine profiles between males and females at risk of kaposi's sarcoma development (Other)"^^ . . . . . . "lightbox.jpg"^^ . . . "Comparison of viral titers and cytokine profiles between males and females at risk of kaposi's sarcoma development (Other)"^^ . . . . . . "preview.jpg"^^ . . . "Comparison of viral titers and cytokine profiles between males and females at risk of kaposi's sarcoma development (Other)"^^ . . . . . . "medium.jpg"^^ . . . "Comparison of viral titers and cytokine profiles between males and females at risk of kaposi's sarcoma development (Other)"^^ . . . . . . "small.jpg"^^ . . "HTML Summary of #22442 \n\nComparison of viral titers and cytokine profiles between males and females at risk of kaposi's sarcoma development\n\n" . "text/html" . .