[Cytopathology and histopathology of human papilloma virus]

Human papilloma viruses (HPV) have been regarded seriously not only as an important agent causing sexually transmitted disease, but also because of its association with malignant transformation. Over 70 types of HPV are known, of which 30 types have been detected in specimens from the cervix. These have been classified into a low risk group, a high risk group and an intermediate group according to their association with malignant transformation. Therefore, diagnosis of cervical HPV infection and to a certain extent the HPV type are extremely important. Diagnostic methods of HPV infection include morphological methods such as cytological, pathological and electron microscopical diagnoses; DNA hybridization methods such as Southern blot hybridization (SBH) and Dot blot hybridization (DBH); and a combination of the two methods such as in situ hybridization (ISH), in situ polymerase chain reaction (in situ PCR) and polymerase chain reaction-in situ hybridization (PCR-ISH). Morphological methods using koilocytosis as an indicator have a low detection rate for HPV. Although ISH, in situ PCR and PCR-ISH have lower sensitivity that SBH and DBH, they enable visual localization of the detected DNA in cells or tissues. These methods are therefore important for cytopathologists and histopathologists. In this study, we report the morphological characteristics of HPV, as well as the advantages, disadvantages and detection rates of the various diagnostic methods.