Trial reportThe Journal of infectious diseases2008
Valganciclovir for suppression of human herpesvirus-8 replication: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial.
Trial report in The Journal of infectious diseases, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 177 citations in OpenAlex.
- Human Herpesvirus 8 Causes a Wide Spectrum of Disease in Liver Transplant Recipients and May be Donor Derived: Case Series and Systematic Review of an Emerging Challenge.Transplant infectious disease : an official journal of the Transplantation SocietyPooled it
- Impact of valganciclovir therapy on severe IRIS-Kaposi Sarcoma mortality: An open-label, parallel, randomized controlled trial.PloS one · 2023Trial
- Valganciclovir for the Suppression of Epstein-Barr Virus Replication.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2017Trial
- The effects of daily distress and personality on genital HSV shedding and lesions in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of acyclovir in HSV-2 seropositive women.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2011Trial
- Treatment with valacyclovir, famciclovir, or antiretrovirals reduces human herpesvirus-8 replication in HIV-1 seropositive men.Journal of medical virology · 2011Trial
- Trial
- Valganciclovir reduces T cell activation in HIV-infected individuals with incomplete CD4+ T cell recovery on antiretroviral therapy.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2011Trial
- Kaposi sarcoma in the era of immunodeficiency: challenges and opportunities for treatment and prevention.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Article
- Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Risk and Disease in Kidney Donors and Transplant Recipients With HIV in the United States.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Article
- KSHV and cancer: understanding the oncogenic machinery for next-generation diagnostic tools and therapies.Archives of microbiology · 2026Review
- Recent Advances in the Histopathology, Molecular Biology, and Treatment of Kaposi Sarcoma: A Contemporary Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Concurrent Detection of Varicella-Zoster Virus and Human Herpesvirus-6 in Corneal Endotheliitis: A Case Report.Cureus · 2025Article
- Disrupting the OTUD4-USP7 deubiquitinase complex to suppress herpesvirus replication: a novel antiviral strategy.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Review
- High malignancy rate in the absence of viral prophylaxis after kidney transplantation in Sudan.Journal of nephrology · 2024Article
- Nelfinavir inhibition of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus protein expression and capsid assembly.Infectious agents and cancer · 2024Article
- Nelfinavir Inhibition of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus protein expression and capsid assembly.Research square · 2023Article
- Review
- Recent Updates on Viral Oncogenesis: Available Preventive and Therapeutic Entities.Molecular pharmaceutics · 2023Review
- Current Perspectives on the Management of Herpesvirus Infections in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients.Viruses · 2023Review
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHuman herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) replication is critical in the induction and maintenance of Kaposi sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and some cases of Castleman disease. In vitro and observational studies suggest that ganciclovir inhibits HHV-8 replication, but no randomized clinical trials have been conducted.
methodsA total of 26 men infected with HHV-8 were randomized to receive 8 weeks of valganciclovir administered orally (900 mg once per day) or 8 weeks of placebo administered orally. After a 2-week washout period, participants in each group received the study drug they had not yet taken (either valganciclovir or placebo), for 8 additional weeks. Oral swab samples were collected daily during the study, and HHV-8 and CMV DNA were quantified by real-time PCR.
resultsA total of 16 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive men and 10 HIV-negative men enrolled in and completed the study. Of the 3,439 swab samples that participants had been expected to provide, 3029 (88%) were available for analysis. HHV-8 was detected on 44% of swabs collected from participants who were receiving placebo, compared with 23% of swabs collected from participants who were receiving valganciclovir (relative risk [RR], 0.54 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.33-0.90]; P = .02). Valganciclovir reduced oropharyngeal shedding of cytomegalovirus by 80% (RR, 0.20 [95% CI, 0.08-0.48]; P < .001). Shedding of HHV-8 and shedding of cytomegalovirus were independent. Hematologic, renal, or hepatic toxicities were no more common among participants who received the active drug, compared with those who received placebo, though participants who received valganciclovir reported more days of diarrhea.
conclusionsValganciclovir administered orally once per day is well tolerated and significantly reduces the frequency and quantity of HHV-8 replication.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.