HPV typing by in situ hybridization on cervical cytologic smears with ASCUS.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the prognostic significance of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) using an in situ hybridization (ISH) method for destined cervical cytologic smears and a cocktail of biotinylated DNA probes for human papillomavirus (HPV) 6, 11, 16, 18, 31 and 33.

STUDY

DESIGN

Two HPV DNA probe mixtures were applied to the same smear for the simultaneous detection of high-risk HPV types 16, 18, 31 and 33 and low-risk HPV 6 and 11. ISH was carried out on 192 smears. Among them, 59 showed koilocytosis, 91 ASCUS and 42 normal features.

RESULTS

Low-risk HPV types were rarely found and associated mainly with koilocytosis (17%). High rates of potentially oncogenic HPV were detected in ASCUS (41%) and condyloma (73%). In addition, similar levels of positivity were found to be associated with ASCUS when using two probe mixtures specific to high-risk HPV: one included HPV genotypes 16 and 18 and the other, genotypes 31 and 33.

CONCLUSION

HPV DNA typing by ISH on cervical cytologic smears might improve the identification of women at high risk of developing precancerous and cancerous cervical lesions.