Letter to the Editor: Interpretation of the signal patterns produced by NISH in cervical neoplasia harbouring HPV
✍ Scribed by Cooper, K.; Grayson, W.
- Book ID
- 101221912
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 22 KB
- Volume
- 183
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-3417
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The signal patterns produced by non-isotopic in situ hybridization (NISH) in cervical neoplasia harbouring human papillomavirus (HPV) have been validated by three independent laboratories. [1][2][3] These NISH signals have been interpreted as follows: type 1: diffuse intranuclear signal representing episomal virus; type 2: punctate intranuclear signal representing integrated virus; and type 3: a combination of types 1 and 2 physical states of HPV DNA. Although the significance of NISH HPV signal patterns in anal carcinoma has not yet been elucidated, the signal morphology has been clearly described. It is therefore perplexing to note the interpretation of NISH signal patterns in a recent publication in this journal. 4 Williams et al. have misinterpreted a type 3 NISH signal (Figs 1 and2) and a type 2 signal (Fig. 3) as a diffuse nuclear pattern. If these signal patterns are to contribute to our understanding of HPV carcinogenesis, then it is crucial that we are uniform in our interpretation.
The second curious observation made by Williams et al. is that of the HPV cytoplasmic signal. Although no supporting evidence in the form of photomicrographs is provided to corroborate this observation, it would have been interesting to have read their interpretation of this novel signal pattern. To the best of our knowledge, such a NISH signal pattern has not been previously described using HPV DNA probes.