Detection of human papillomavirus DNA in anogenital exophytic lesions by in situ hybridization to paraffin sections

In situ hybridization was used to detect human papillomavirus (HPV) nucleic acids (type 6b, 11, 16, 18, 31, and 33) and immunohistochemistry was done to detect papillomavirus common antigen in paraffin sections of biopsy specimens. Two patients suffering from condyloma acuminatum contained HPV-6b and HPV-11. Both cases showed small foci of the antigen-positive cells. One patient having condyloma acuminatum with dysplastic features contained a small quantity of HPV-16 without any antigen-positive cells. One case of verrucous carcinoma showed neither HPV-DNA nor antigen. In situ hybridization is a powerful tool in the analysis of the pathogenesis of HPV-associated neoplasms.