Antibodies to human papillomavirus type 11 virus-like particles in sera of patients with genital warts and in control groups.

We analysed by ELISA a total of 478 human sera for the presence of antibodies to HPV-11 virus-like particles. The sera were obtained from patients with current genital warts (group CO), from males attending the hospital for fertility disorders (group MA), from blood donors (group BD) and from patients hospitalized for reasons unrelated to HPV infections (group HO). Antibody prevalence was higher in male patients of group CO (23.0%) as compared to males of groups MA (3.2%; P < 0.0001), HO (5.3%; P = 0.01) and BD (16.7%; NS). In addition, there was a significant difference in antibody titre between the males of group CO compared to group MA. Within the whole sample the absorbance of sera from females was higher than in specimens from males (P < 0.0001). A small subset of the sera was also tested by radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA). There was good agreement between the data obtained by ELISA and RIPA.