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Updated: Mar 26, 2026
RNAscope for In situ Detection of Transcriptionally Active Human Papillomavirus in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Published on: March 11, 2014
Detection of Human Papillomavirus Infections at the Single-Cell Level
Zhenping Shen1, Xia Liu1,2, Janice Morihara1
1Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Objective:
To explore the possibility of single-cell analysis of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
Methods:
Two hundred and twenty cells were isolated by laser capture microdissection from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded cervical tissue blocks from 8 women who had HPV DNA detected in their cervical swab samples. The number of type-specific HPV copies in individual cells was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction with and without a prior reverse transcription. The cells were assayed and counted for more than once if the corresponding swab sample was positive for ≥2 HPV types.
Results:
Infection with HPV16, HPV39, HPV51, HPV52, HPV58, HPV59 and HPV73 was detected in 12 (5.5%) of 220, 3 (9.4%) of 32, 3 (5.8%) of 52, 11 (22.9%) of 48, 9 (18.8%) of 48, 3 (9.4%) of 32 and none of 20 cells, respectively. The numbers of HPV genome copies varied widely from cell to cell. The coexistence of multiple HPV types was detected in 6 (31.6%) of 19 positive cells from 1 of the 6 women who had 2 or 3 HPV types detected in their swab samples.
Conclusion:
Given the heterogeneity of HPV status in individual cells, further clarification of HPV infection at the single-cell level may refine our understanding of HPV-related carcinogenesis.
