Papillomavirus genomes in human cervical tumors: analysis of their transcriptional activity.

Four of six human cervical carcinoma biopsies were shown to contain the DNA of the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) covalently linked with the tumor cell DNA. HPV-16-specific mRNA species were observed in only one of the four tumors. No such sequences were found in the three other specimens in conditions that permitted the detection of less than one mRNA molecule per cell. It is concluded that maintenance of the malignant nature of these cervical tumors does not depend on the continuous transcriptional activity of HPV-16.