Comparison of Southern blot analysis with isotopic and nonisotopic in situ hybridization for the detection of human papillomavirus sequences in invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

To compare the efficiency of hybridization methods for the detection of HPV genome, 22 cases of invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix were analyzed by Southern blot analysis and in situ hybridization carried out with 35S- and biotin-labeled probes. These cases contained from less than one to as many as 50 copies per cell of HPV 16 and 18 types. To increase the sensitivity of biotinylated probes, a silver enhancement procedure of the peroxidase reaction product was applied. Results showed that in situ hybridization performed with isotopic probes is as sensitive as Southern blot analysis and is more sensitive than that performed with biotin-labeled probe. However, the application of the silver enhancement procedure increases the percentage of HPV-positive cases from 27 to 50%.