Diagnosis of human papillomavirus infection in uterine cervix by immunoperoxidase technique.

The present study detected human papillomavirus (HPV) genus-specific antigen in paraffin section of chronic cervicitis tissue by peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) technique. The results showed that HPV antigen was detected in 34 of 101 specimens (33.66%). All the normal control sections were negative. The antigen positive nuclei were found in the koilocytes of the upper layers of the epithelium. Antigen positive cells may display a uniform or a scattered pattern. The pathologic feature of HPV infection discribed by Meisels et al. was found in all positive sections. It is suggested from the results that almost one third of chronic cervicitis is induced by HPV infection.