Presence and type specificity of papillomavirus antibodies demonstrable by immunoelectron microscopy tests in samples from patients with warts

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Abstract
Sera from 75 patients with warts were tested for antibodies against human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in an immunoelectron microscopy test. A group of 40 patients'' sera were tested against a pooled suspension of the HPVs extracted from their warts and 90% of the sera were found to be antibody-positive. Prior to serological investigation viruses from a second group of 35 patients were typed by dot blot hybridization with HPV-1 and HPV-2 DNA. According to these results the patients were divided into type 1, type 2 and non-1, non-2 virus carriers. Sera of these patients were first tested for antibodies reactive with their homologous viruses and then for antibodies against type 1 virus. More than 80% of the patients possessed antibodies against their homologous viruses, but only a small minority of sera from type 2 and non-1, non-2 virus carriers were reactive with type 1 viruses. These results suggest that the antibody reactive in the immunoaggregation test is type-specific.