PAPILLOMAVIRUS GENOMES IN HUMAN CERVICAL-CARCINOMA - ANALYSIS OF THEIR INTEGRATION AND TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVITY

Eighty-four biopsies derived from cervical tissues were analyzed for t he presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA types 6, 16 and 18 using Southern blot hybridization. HPV 6 was found in none of the cervical biopsies, and HPV types 16 end 18 were found in 44% of them. The rate of HPV 16/18 positive samples increased proportionally to the severity of the lesion. In normal tissue there were no positive samples, in mi ld and moderate dysplasias HPV 16/18 was present in 20% and in severe dysplasias and invasive carcinomas in 37 and 50%, respectively. In bio psies from 13 cases with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix and CIN III lesions HPV 16 was integrated within the best genome. It was concluded that the virus could be integrated at variable, presumab ly randomly selected chromosomal loci and with different number of cop ies. Transcription of HPV 16 and 18 was detected in one cervical cance r and in HeLa cells, respectively. These results imply that HPV types 16 and 18 play an etiological role in the carcinogenesis of human cerv ical epithelial cells.