KSHV LANA2

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the eighth human herpesvirus; its formal name according to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is HHV-8. Like other herpesviruses, its informal name (KSHV) is used interchangeably with its ICTV name. This virus causes Kaposi's sarcoma, a cancer commonly occurring in AIDS patients, as well as primary effusion lymphoma and some types of multicentric Castleman's disease. It is one of seven currently known human cancer viruses, or oncoviruses. ORFK10.5 encodes a protein, latency-associated nuclear antigen 2 (LANA2), which is expressed in KSHV-infected hematopoietic tissues, including PEL and CD but not KS lesions. LANA2 is abundantly expressed in the nuclei of cultured KSHV-infected B cells.