Demonstration of papillomavirus capsid antigen in human conjunctival neoplasia
J. M. McDonnell, P. J. McDonnell, P. Mounts, T. C. Wu and W. R. Green
To investigate the association of human papillomavirus with conjunctival
neoplasia, we identified 50 resected papillomas from 47 patients.
Papillomas were composed of papillary or, less commonly, flat
proliferations of predominantly nonkeratinizing squamous epithelium with
admixed goblet cells. Koilocytosis was focally present in 30 tumors (60%).
Atypia that ranged from mild to severe was present in ten lesions (20%). In
addition, we examined specimens of conjunctival dysplasia or carcinoma from
61 patients. The lesions were predominantly flat proliferations of atypical
epithelial cells. Twenty biopsies performed for suspected sarcoidosis were
used as controls. Papillomavirus capsid antigen was demonstrated using an
immunoperoxidase technique in nuclei of mature superficial epithelial cells
of 23 papillomas (46%) and five dysplasias or carcinomas (8.2%) but not in
the control biopsy specimens. These results suggest that papillomavirus may
play a role in the etiology of conjunctival papilloma, dysplasia, and
carcinoma.
