[Virologic diagnosis of papillomavirus infections]

Human papillomavirus are strictly epitheliotropic and host-specific. Currently, 57 different types based on deoxyribonucleic acid sequence rather than serology have been identified. Some papillomavirus types infect the skin, while others infect the oral or genital mucous membranes. Human Papillomavirus type 16 is often associated with invasive carcinomas of the uterine cervix and of their intra-epithelial precursors. Recent data on viral pathogenesis suggest that the protein encoded by the E7 gene of human papillomavirus type 16 is able to bind to the retinoblastoma and p53 gene products. If various techniques for the detection of human papillomavirus may be used (cytology, electron microscopy and immunocytochemistry), as will become apparent, nucleic acid hybridization is the most reliable method for viral diagnosis and genotyping.