DETECTION AND TYPING OF HUMAN-PAPILLOMAVIRUS IN CERVICAL SPECIMENS OFTURKISH WOMEN

The DNA in situ hybridization (DISH) and conventional solution phase p olymerase chain reaction (PCR) were applied to identify human papillom avirus (HPV) DNA in cervical specimens uf Turkish women. Samples consi sted of 21 cervical brushings from pregnant women and 20 paraffin-embe dded biopsies from women with condylomatous or dysplasic lesions. It w as found that two out of 21 (9.5%) pregnant women were harbouring HPV- DNA detected by PCR. One woman was infected with HPV 16/30's and the o ther with an unidentified type. As for the biopsy specimens, the rate of HPV-DNA positivity was 30% and 45% by DISH and PCR, respectively. A double infection was observed In more than 50% of the positive cases, Moreover, HPV 18 was never detected. The results indicated that HPV-D NA is rarely present in cytomorphologically normal smears from pregnan t women. The PCR method was successfully adapted for HPV typing in cli nical Lesions which simultaneously contained different HPV sequences.