Identification of human papillomaviruses in paraffin embedded cervical pathological tissues from Indian women by polymerase chain reaction.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology was used to identify human papillomaviruses (HPV) in 52 paraffin embedded cervical tissues from Indian women with chronic cervicitis, different grades of cervical dysplasia and invasive cervical carcinoma. The tissues were screened for amplification of the cellular beta-globin gene as well as of HPVs. Sets of primers designed to amplify a portion of the E6 gene of HPV 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 were employed. HPV 6, 16 and 31 were identified in 58% of 33 beta-globin positive tissues as compared to 16% of 19 beta-globin negative tissues. HPV 11, 18, 33 and 35 were not identified in any of the specimens. Double infection of HPV 16 and 31 was observed in one case of carcinoma in situ and one case of invasive carcinoma. HPV-16 was the predominant virus in HPV positive cases of higher grades of cervical dysplasia (severe dysplasia and carcinoma in situ) and cervical cancer.