In-situ hybridization using biotinylated DNA probes to human papillomavirus in adenocarcinoma-in-situ and endocervical glandular dysplasia of the uterine cervix.

In-situ hybridization using biotinylated probes to human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA was performed on formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue in 30 patients with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma-in-situ (AIS). Thirteen of the 30 cases contained areas of endocervical glandular dysplasia (EGD) admixed with AIS. Twenty one patients showed positive staining of the AIS nuclei for HPV DNA. Ten cases (33%) were positive for HPV 16 DNA and 11 cases (37%) were positive for HPV 18 DNA. No case showed synchronous expression of HPV 16 and 18 DNA. All cases of AIS were negative for HPV 6b and 11 DNA. Four cases of EGD were positive for HPV 18 DNA and 2 cases were positive for HPV 16 DNA. Four of 6 cases of intestinal dysplasia/AIS were positive for HPV 18 DNA. Associated squamous abnormalities (HPV +/- CIN +/- SCC) were noted in 15 cases. Of these, 7 showed positive staining for HPV DNA in the squamous lesion. Moreover, 5 of these were positive in both the AIS and squamous lesion. In-situ hybridization using biotinylated DNA probes is a sensitive and safe technique readily adaptable to routine histopathology.