Human papillomavirus identified by nucleic acid hybridization in concomitant nasal and genital papillomas.

Presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) as the etiologic agent in nearly all upper respiratory tract recurrent papillomas is well-established. The technique of nucleic acid hybridization now allows specific typing of HPV with a high degree of accuracy. This article reports a series of nine consecutive patients treated for nasal papillomas over the past 9 years. Eight of these patients had a personal history of genital papillomas (seven patients) or exposure (one patient). With the use of in situ hybridization and autoradiographic technique on paraffin-embedded tissue sections, HPV RNA type 6/11 was expressed in eight of nine nasal papillomas, and corresponding HPV types were also found in the two cases with which concurrent anogenital papilloma tissue was also available for analysis. Human papillomavirus RNA types 16 and 18 were not detected in any of the specimens. Signals of HPV messenger RNA type 6/11 were stronger in the fungiform areas than in the inverted areas of papillomas.