[Carcinoma of the uterine cervix and herpes simplex virus type 2. Investigations on the causal relationship (author's transl)].

Epidemiological serological studies have shown that women with carcinoma of the uterine cervix show a higher incidence of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 (HSV 2) than controls. The attempt to demonstrate the genomic DNS of the HSV 2 in cells of carcinoma of the cervix by experiments of hybridization is reported. The investigations were carried out directly on material from carcinoma of the cervix and also on cell cultures from tumor material. The majority of the cultures grew fibroblasts but some cultures grew cells with the characteristics of malignant cells. The hybridization of DNS from portions of carcinoma or of DNS from cell cultures with complementary HSV 2 radioactive RNS showed in no case HSV-2-DNS in a quantity of one or one half genomic equivalent per cell. These investigations suggest that a casual relationship between carcinoma of the uterine cervix and an infection with HSV 2 is unlikely. However, it cannot be excluded that carcinoma of the uterine cervix has different quantitative proportions than the Burkitt-lymphoma and that only a fraction of the genomic material of the virus (smaller than 1/10) is incorporated into the malignant cell.