The clinical importance of the nomenclature, evolution and taxonomy of human papillomaviruses

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are formally described by isolation of their circular double-stranded DNA genomes and establishment and comparison of the nucleotide sequence of these genomes. Alternatives such as serological diagnosis and maintenance of HPVs in culture are neither clinically useful nor consistently feasible. Novel HPV isolates have traditionally been described as “types”. The analysis of specific HPV types is of medical importance, because HPV types typically induce type-specific lesions, i.e. they may be specific for cutaneous or mucosal epithelia, or give rise to benign warts or malignant carcinomas. Recently, it was formally decided that papillomaviruses are a virus family separate from the polyomaviruses. Within the papillomavirus family, closely or remotely related types form species or genera. These formal agreements were important as they brought the taxonomy of papillomaviruses in line with that of other viruses, bacteria and higher organisms, although their impact on medical practice and terminology used in clinical studies is limited. Notably, however, HPV types that are closely related (i.e. form “species”) are associated with similar lesions. Confusion of the terms “type” and “subtype” should be avoided, as the latter term refers to some specific but rare taxonomic assemblages. In contrast to many RNA viruses, HPV types evolve very slowly, and diverged since the origin of humans only by about 2%. These divergent isolates are called “variants”. HPVs evolved together with humankind and Homo sapiens was never without HPVs, and consequently never without warts and cervical cancer. Variants of the same HPV type may have different pathogenicity and may account for part of the worldwide disparities in the occurrence of genital cancers.