High sensitivity of PCR in situ hybridization for the detection of human papillomavirus infection in uterine cervical neoplasias

Objective. This study was designed in order to examine whether the sensitiv ity of PCR in situ hybridization (PISH) is superior to that of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunocytochemical staining (ICS) in dete cting the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in uterine cervi cal neoplasias. Methods. Three cell specimens were obtained from every 54 patients who had been histologically and cytologically diagnosed as severe dysplasia of the uterine cervix (SD), carcinoma in situ of the uterine cervix (CIS), or micr oinvasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix (MIC). All of them were first sta ined by the Papanicolaou (pap) method before the experiments. After specime ns were classified into SD (n = 17) and CIS/MIC groups (n = 37), the sensit ivities of detection for HPV infection were compared among PISH, FISH, and ICS methods which had been carried out after decolorization of the pap stai n. Results. In the SD group, PISH demonstrated a 58.8% positive incidence of H PV, which was significantly higher than that (23.5%) shown by FISH (P < 0.0 5). There was no significant difference in the positivities of HPV between the PISH and ICS (47.1%) methods. In the CIS/MIC group, PISH, FISH, and ICS showed 73.0, 43.2, and 54.1% positive incidences of HPV, respectively. The re was significant difference in HPV positivities between PISH and FISH as well as ICS (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). The total frequency of the detection of H PV infection by PISH was significantly higher than that by FISH (P < 0.01) and high with a marginal significance compared to that by ICS (P = 0.051). Moreover, the morphologic change of a single cell and the HPV-positive sign als could be observed simultaneously by the PISH technique. Conclusion. Because PISH possesses high sensitivity for the detection of HP V infection in morphologically intact cells from uterine cervical neoplasia , the PISH technique might have promising potential for application to the detection of HPV presence in situ in screening. (C) 2001 Academic Press.