On Human Papillomaviruses

Even Lewis Thomas, who concluded his essay "On Warts" by proposing a National Institute of Warts,1 did not envisage the recent explosion in papillomavirus research or anticipate the compelling association of these viruses with certain human cancers. The viral nature of human warts was first suggested in 1907 by Ciuffo, who demonstrated their transmission by cell-free filtrates.2 Shope first described the papillomavirus as the etiologic agent of infectious papillomatosis of rabbits in 1933.3 Subsequent studies by Rous established that benign rabbit papillomas could advance to become malignant squamous-cell carcinomas and that specific nonviral cofactors (i.e., coal tar or methylcholanthrene) could . . .