KSHV K8 Products

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) belongs to the gamma-(2)-herpesvirus subfamily and has been closely linked to the Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and multicentric Castleman's disease. The genome of KSHV is 165-170 kb and contains at least 88 open reading frames. KSHV K8 and K8.1 open reading frames are juxtaposed and span from nucleotide (nt) 74850 to 76695 of the virus genome. A K8 pre-mRNA overlaps the entire K8.1 coding region, and alternative splicing of KSHV K8 and K8.1 pre-mRNAs each produces three isoforms of the mRNAs.