DETECTION OF HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS IN JUVENILE LARYNGEAL PAPILLOMATOSIS USING POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

We examined the presence and subtypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) in 20 paraffin-embedded samples (from 12 patients) of juvenile laryngeal papillomatosis using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The biopsie s had been stored for months to 12 years. Due to the great genetic var iability of HPV, we selected a conservative sequence of the viral geno me (L1 region) to identify the vast majority of the subtypes. Positive results were obtained by one-step PCR amplification with the MY09-11 consensus primers (L1 region) in only 10 of the cases. After a two-ste p amplification (nested-PCR) with GP5-6 primers the 20 samples proved to be positive demonstrating the higher sensitivity of this method. In order to amplify a highly variable region of the genome (E6), specifi c primers for HPV types 6 and 11 (H6/11 L1-R2) were used. 7/12 patient s were positive for this subtype. Since more that one subtype has been reported in the same sample, the presence of HPV 6-11 sequences does not exclude that other subtypes might be involved. The results of this study show that: 1) HPV is present in JLP. 2) The most frequent HPV s ubtype involved was from the 6-11 group. 3) PCR can be successfully us ed in archived tissue routinely processed in a laboratory of pathology .