Kaposi's sarcoma: epidemiologic aspects, the immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome, and more along the Silk Road of cognition.

Abstract

Kaposi's sarcoma remains enignmatic with many clinical and epidemiological patterns. We review them and describe the groove sign, an important association worthy of recognition. We also stress Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) without coexistent human immunodefiency virus infection, with recent data from China describing an extraordinarily high classical KS prevalence rate among Uygurs and Kazaks in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, presumably derived from elderly men residing there. The possible travel of HHV-8 along the ancient silk road from Italy to the Xinjiang Uyghur region remains intriguing. If only one in 10,000 HHV-8-infected patients develops classical KS worldwide, then triggers for its overrepresentation in this population within China are of particular concern. The KS-related immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome is also emphasized.