THE FREQUENCY OF PAPILLOMAVIRUS INFECTION IN CERVICAL PRECANCEROUS LESIONS IN JAPAN: AN IMMUNOPEROXIDASE STUDY

Abstract

In order to establish the frequency of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in cervical precancerous lesions of Japanese patients, cervical materials routinely biopsied in the past year were examined immunohistochemically for the papillomavirus genusspecific antigen. Of a total of 832 cervical biopsy specimens, 46 (5.5%) were immunohistochemically positive for HPV. In this study, 206 patients were diagnosed as having dysplasia or carcinoma in situ (CIS), and HPV antigen was found in 15% of these patients. It was found in 13% of patients with mild dysplasia, 28% of those with moderate dysplasia, 17% of those with severe dysplasia and 4.5% of those with CIS. However, HPV antigen was detected only in the epithelium with dysplastic change, not in cancerous areas.