HPV DETECTION IN CYTOLOGICAL CASES WITH CONDYLOMATOUS OR DYSPLASTIC CHANGES - A STUDY WITH PCR AND IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION ON CYTOLOGICAL MATERIAL

Cytobrush samples of 80 patients, who previously had a cytological or histopathological diagnosis of condyloma and/or dysplasia were investi gated for human papillomavirus infection (HPV) by polymerase chain rea ction (PCR) and in situ DNA hybridization technique (ISH). The results were compared with concomitantly obtained cytological Pap-stained sme ars or, in some cases, histological sections. The time between the dia gnosis of the original and the concomitant cytology/histopathology was less than 1 yr. Six additional patients had similar morphological dia gnoses 2-4 yr before. Five more cases were included on clinical diagno sis of HPV. Compared with the original morphological diagnoses, 70% of the cases were positive by PCR and/or ISH. The concomitant morphology was not diagnostic of HPV in 44 out of 80 cases (55%), showing a rela tively high percentage of cases morphologically normalized in the inte rval since the first specimen was taken. After detection with PCR, 30 cases (37.5%) were negative far HPV. Only one of the patients with a p revious disease 2-4 yr before was HPV positive by PCR and two out of f ive patients with a clinical diagnosis of HPV. ISH could be performed on 67/80 cases, 43 of which were positive for HPV; There was a good ag reement between the results of ISH and PCR, but there were six cases p ositive by ISH and negative by PCR. In these cases, few infected cells may have escaped detection by PCR. Both methods seem to be able to de tect silent HPV infections and comparison with concomitant cytology/hi stopathology shows that morphology alone is insufficient for HPV detec tion in these cases. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.