E4 expression of human papillomavirus in cervical samples with different cytology categories

In some circumstances, infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), especially HPV type 16 (HPV16), progresses to cervical cancer. Viral E4 expression reflects viral replication and translation and its presence may rule out a latent infectious stage. Twenty cervical cytology samples with known HPV 16 infection of each cytological category namely, negative for intraepithelial lesion (NIL), low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and squamous carcinoma (SCC) were investigated by single-step quantitative RT PCR for HPV 16 E4 mRNA, which was not found in any NIL sample but in all LSIL and HSIL samples. Thus, E4 expression assay should be useful for determining precancerous states and may be suitable as an adjunct in cervical HPV testing.