• Presence and expression of Human papilloma viruses in two cell lines of reproductive origin
  • Aida Gholoobi,1 Maryam Sadat Nabavinia,2 Roghaye Teimourpour,3 Zahra Meshkat,4,*
    1. Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
    2. Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi, University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran
    3. Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran
    4. Women's Health Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran


  • Introduction: Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are responsible for a number of anogenital and head and neck cancers. HPV DNA has been present and transcribed in most cell lines established from human cervical carcinomas. The aim of this study was to elucidate whether two cell lines of the reproductive system including normal cervical cells and an ovarian cell line express HPV.
  • Methods: HNCF-PI 52 cells originating from the primary culture of a healthy female uterine cervix and human ovarian A2780 cell line tested for contamination with HPV. RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, and nested-PCR and simple PCR amplification using two sets of CP and GP primers, respectively, were used to detect HPV RNA expression in these cell lines.
  • Results: Results from nested PCR reaction of degenerate primers of CP together with PCR using GP primers show that HNCF-PI 52 cells express HPV. No HPV RNA could be detected in the A2780 cell line.
  • Conclusion: In basic biological research, cell lines of reproductive origin are frequently used by scientists or in the diagnostic laboratories. The finding of this study reveals that HPV is present in normal cervix tissue cell line.
  • Keywords: Cell line, viral contamination, HPV, PCR