ABSTRACT
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