Immunology of human papillomavirus: warts.

Great progress has been made over the last five years in our understanding of papillomavirus (PV) biology. New technology has enabled investigators to understand the relationship between the PV and its host. The PV cannot be cultured in vitro, and this has led to limitations for those wishing to study the biology of this virus. However, utilizing recombinant DNA technology, investigators now have abundant quantities of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA for study. Such HPV genomes may be labeled with a radioisotope such as P32 and used as a "probe" in hybridization studies to see if a given tissue contains HPV DNA. No longer are we limited to electron microscopy and immune studies in our efforts to identify HPV within benign or malignant tissues. Ultimately, we hope to understand the relationship between the virus and its host. This paper will concentrate on one aspect of this relationship--the immunology of HPV.