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Biopsies of 13 penile cancers (PC), from patients living in regions of Uganda with a high incidence of genital cancers, were studied for the presence, molecular characteristics and physical state of DNA related to that of human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31 and 33. HPV DNA sequences were detected in all PC specimens by dot/Southern blot analyses and by gene amplification of DNA sequences highly conserved among several HPVs. HPV 16 DNA sequences were found in one PC; DNA sequences with low homology to HPV16 or HPV18 were present in all other samples. Viral DNA is primarily integrated in the cellular DNA. To isolate and characterize a possible highly oncogenic HPV, a genomic library of the DNA extracted from the PC-8 biopsy has been constructed in the EcoRI arms of the EMBL4 phage. A single phage containing 8.30-kb HPV16-related sequences has been identified and the 3 segments of 0.45, 0.65 and 7.2 kb, released by EcoRI digestion, have been independently subcloned in pUC18 for further analysis.

Sera from patients with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) were examined for antibody titres to cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2 by four techniques: indirect haemagglutination (IHA), complement fixation (CF), virus neutralization (NT) and indirect immunofluorescence (IF). The patients were classified, according to the stage of disease, as progressive and regressive. Control sera were obtained from healthy adults, matched for age, sex, race, socioeconomic status and geographic location, as well as from patients with melanoma, some of whom were receiving chemotherapy similar to that given to the KS patients. All KS sera contained CMV-neutralizing antibodies. Seventy-five percent of the European KS patients, mainly regressors, showed elevated anti-CMV titres by IHA with a significant increase in the geometric mean over the corresponding healthy adult group and the melanoma group. An overrepresentation of high anti-CMV titres, although less marked, was found by CF. There was no significant association with antibodies to EBV, HSV-1 and HSV-2 related antigens. By contrast, the African KS patients, mainly progressors, did not show a serologic association with CMV or with EBV and HSV-1 and 2. The implication of these results is discussed.

In order to determine whether human cytomegalovirus- (CMV) DNA homologous sequences as well as CMV-specific RNA(s) and antigen(s) exist in tumor biopsies of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) DNA-DNA reassociation, RNA-DNA in situ cytohybridization and anticomplement immunofluorescence test (ACIF) tests were applied. Three of 10 DNAs extracted from Kaposi sarcoma biopsies contained DNA sequences homologous to radioactively labelled human CMV DNA probe. The amount of CMV DNA in these sarcoma tissues was calculated to range from 0.7 to 1 genome equivalent per diploid cell. The presence of virus-specific RNA was also demonstrated in section from five of 10 tumor biopsies. CMV-determined nuclear antigen(s) CMNA) present in variable degrees were also demonstrated. In contrast, we could not detect any herpes simple virus type II (HSV-2) or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA sequences in DNA of these tumor biopsies. Furthermore, there were no detectable HSV-2 or EBV-specific RNA or virus-specific antigens in sections of these biopsies. These results provide new lines of evidence for the relationship between CMV and Kaposi's sarcoma.