Use of human papillomavirus type 11 virions in an ELISA to detect specific antibodies in humans with condylomata acuminata

Abstract

Human papillomavirus types 6 and 11 (HPV-6 and HPV-11) are the major aetiological agents of condylomata acuminata. Serological studies of this disease have been difficult to perform and interpret because native, type-specific antigens have not been available. In particular, since these viruses have not been propagated in vitro and sufficient quantities of virions are not present in lesions, virus particles have been difficult to obtain. In the present study, we used HPV-11 particles, obtained from human tumours produced in athymic mice, as antigen in an ELISA to compare antibody responses between 46 patients with biopsyproven condylomata acuminata and 44 controls. The median [interquartile range] of the absorbance values for the condylomata acuminata and the control groups were respectively 0-324 [0-183, 1-029] and 0.118 [0-047, 0.286] (P= 0-0001). Thirty-three per cent of the absorbance values in the condylomata acuminata group were higher than any of those of the control group. Sera from patients whose biopsies contained the papillomavirus common antigen were more reactive than sera from patients whose biopsies did not contain it (P= 0-0014).This study demonstrates the presence of specific antibodies directed at native HPV-I 1 viral particles in the sera of patients with condylomata acuminata, and describes a test which can be used in future serological studies of this common sexually transmitted disease.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) type 11 recombinant virus-like particles induce the formation of neutralizing antibodies and detect HPV-specific antibodies in human sera

“…Another potential explanation for the low sensitivity of the HPV-11-based assays is that they are too HPV type-specific. However, HPV-11 whole virion immunoassays are able to detect specific, presumably cross-reactive, antibodies in the sera of patients with condyloma acuminatum or recurrent respiratory papillomatosis who are infected with HPV-6, the other major causal agent of these diseases (Bonnez et al, 1991(Bonnez et al, , 1992a. Therefore, the poor sensitivity of the present arrays cannot be attributed exclusively to narrow typespecificity of the antigen.…”

“…The reported sensitivity of currently available HPV-11 virion-based or VLP-based immunoassays is approximately 50% (Bonnez et al, 1991(Bonnez et al, , 1992aCarter et al, 1993; and the present study). There are several possible explanations for such a relatively low sensitivity.…”

“…Groups 1 and 2 were neutralization controls that we have described previously (Bonnez et al, 1992 b), and groups 3 and 4 were the test groups. The preparation of human foreskins excised for routine circumcision has also been described (Bonnez et al, 1991). Foreskins were cut into 1 mm squares and a small number of fragments from each foreskin were snap-frozen and saved.…”

“…This difficulty has been partially overcome by the development of the athymic mousehuman xenograft system, in which HPV-t 1 virions can be produced and recovered (Kreider et al, 1985(Kreider et al, , 1987. Using these virus particles in an ELISA, we have demonstrated the presence of specific antibodies in the sera of patients with cor~dyloma acuminatum (Bonnez et al, 1991) or with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (Bonnez et al, 1992a), two diseases associated with HPV-11 or the closely related HPV-6. These observations, along with other evidence (Kienzler et al, 1983;Steele & Gallimore, 1990), indicate the importance of conformational epitopes in the development of an antibody response to HPV capsid proteins.…”

Expression of human papillomavirus type 16 E6 protein by recombinant baculovirus and use for detection of anti-E6 antibodies in human sera

“…Strike et al (1990) and Bonnez et al (1990) have found that Western blots using HPV-6b capsid antigen fusion proteins can not discriminate serologically between condylomata acuminata patients and normal controls. However, an ELISA-based method using whole particles of the closely related HPV-11 is able to do so (Bonnez et al, 1991). The use of immobilized bacterial fusion protein antigens might restrict assay sensitivity by not identifying antibodies targeted to conformational epitopes.…”