title: Human papillomavirus and c-myc/c-erbB2 in uterine and vulvar lesions.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate papillomavirus (HPV)-DNA in precancer and cancer of the cervix, vulva, and endometrium by in situ/dot blot/Southern blot hybridization and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Myc/erbB-2 expression was examined by Northern blot analysis. PCR was the most sensitive HPV detection method, demonstrating HPV-DNA in all pre-invasive and invasive cervical lesions (n = 21) and most (3 of 4) vulvar carcinomas in contrast to an overall rate of 60% with other techniques. Particular phenotypes (adenoid cystic/basal cell carcinoma of the vulva, cervical adenocarcinoma) were found to contain HPV. Endometrium harboured HPV not only in two cases of cervical cancer, but also in 3 of 8 primary endometrial carcinomas and 3 of 8 non-malignant conditions. Myc activation was confined to three squamous cell carcinomas, most markedly in one HPV-6-positive verrucous variant. ErbB-2 over-expression was only seen in one HPV-18 infected advanced endometrial tumour. Our findings point to a range of HPV-infected lesions broader than previously supposed and possible contributions of HPV-independent molecular events to carcinogenesis in this field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecological Histopathology, University Hospital, Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Milde-Langosch
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Löning
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D004717:Endometrium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000032:analysis*; D012016:Reference Values; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc