DETECTION OF RNA COMPLEMENTARY TO HERPES-SIMPLEX VIRUS-DNA IN HUMAN CERVICAL SQUAMOUS-CELL NEOPLASMS

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 41  (9) , 3597-3603
Abstract
Nonneoplastic and neoplastic cervical biopsy specimens were examined by in situ hybridization to 125I-labeled DNA of herpes simplex virus (HSV), adenovirus and bacteriophage .lambda. and quantitative hybridization data were obtained using a Video Image Analyser. HSV-specific RNA was detected in 72% of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, 60% of squamous cervical carcinomas, 2% of nonneoplastic cervices and 9% of primary adenocarcinomas of the cervix. None of the tissues gave positive hybridization with adenovirus or .lambda. DNA probes. In paired biopsies of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and nonneoplastic epithelium from 29 individuals, HSV-specific RNA was detected only in the epithelium of the neoplastic sample and not in the nonneoplastic control. Infectious HSV-2 was isolated from a low proportion (2%) of both ectocervical swabs and cell-free tissue extracts of patients examined, suggesting that the HSV-specific RNA detected in squamous cell neoplasms was not due to overt infections.