BIOTINYLATED DNA PROBE FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF CERVICAL CARCINO

HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS (HPV) INFECTIONS ARE A COMMON FORM OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE. INFECTIONS WITH TWO STRAINS OF HPV, HPV-16 AND HPV-18, HAVE BEEN CORRELATED WITH CERVICAL CARCINOMA. DNA FROM THESE VIRUSES HAS BEEN DETECTED IN TUMOR TISSUE FROM PATIENTS WITH THIS MALIGNANCY. IN PHASE I OF THIS STUDY, WE WILL IDENTIFY AND ISOLATE REGIONS OF THE HPV-16 AND HPV-18 GENOMES THAT CAN SPECIFICALLY RECOGNIZE THESE VIRUSES IN CERVICAL CARCINOMA SAMPLES. THESE HPV-SPECIFIC DNA PROBES WILL PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR PHASE II STUDIES, WHERE WE WILL DEVELOP RAPID, SENSITIVE, SPECIFIC, AND SIMPLE NONRADIOACTIVE ASSAYS FOR THE DETECTION OF HPV-16 AND HPV-18 DNA DIRECTLY IN TISSUE SAMPLES TAKEN FROM PATIENTS WITH EITHER PAPILLARY WARTS OR CERVICAL CARCINOMA. THIS DNA-BASED DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM WILL GREATLY FACILITATE THE EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH GENITAL HPV INFECTIONS. IT MAY ALSO PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMERCIALLY RELEVANT ASSAY FOR DETECTING THE OCCURRENCE OR THE RECURRENCE OF CERVICAL CARCINOMA AT AN EARLY STAGE OF THE DISEASE.