Analysis of DNA distribution in Kaposi's sarcoma in patients with and without the acquired immune deficiency syndrome

While Kaposi's sarcoma in patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) may present as a multicentric disease with progressive organ involvement, the classic form of Kaposi's sarcoma is an indolent tumor seldom affecting extracutaneous areas and almost never responsible for the patient's demise. An attempt was made to correlate these clinical differences with the nuclear DNA content of tumor cells in histologic sections from 15 patients (9 with AIDS and 6 without AIDS). All tumors showed a similar DNA distribution pattern, with most cells appearing diploid, indicative of a low malignant potential. These findings indicate that Kaposi's sarcoma of both AIDS and non-AIDS patients is a tumor of intrinsically low malignancy and that lack of immune surveillance is most probably responsible for its aggressive biologic behavior in many AIDS patients.