Demonstration of papillomavirus antigen in paraffin sections of laryngeal papillomas.

A papillomavirus antigen has been identified in tissue sections of laryngeal papillomata removed at endoscopic operations. The demonstration of the papillomavirus antigen was achieved using the peroxidase-anti-peroxidase test of Sternberger after a broadly cross-reactive rabbit antiserum to the papillomavirus capsid antigen was incubated with the tissue sections. The antigen was detected in specimens from 7 of 15 patients with juvenile-onset laryngeal papillomas, but could not be demonstrated in the specimens from 6 patients with adult-onset papillomas. In all, 73 biopsy specimens from 21 patients were selected for study; 18% (11/61) of the sections from the juvenile-onset patients and 0% (0/12) of the sections from the adult-onset patient specimens exhibited the papillomavirus antigen.