Table 1.
The most frequently studied papillomavirus types and their biological and clinical properties
| Family: papillomaviruses (Papillomaviridae) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Type (s) | Properties |
| Alpha-papillomaviruses | 4 | HPV-2, HPV-27, HPV-57 | Common skin warts, frequently in genital warts of children |
| 5 | HPV-26, HPV-51, HPV-69, HPV82 | High-risk malignant and benign mucosal lesions | |
| 6 | HPV-53, HPV-30, HPV-56, HPV-66 | High-risk malignant and benign mucosal lesions | |
| 7 | HPV-18, HPV-39, HPV-45, HPV-59, HPV-68, HPV-70 | High-risk malignant mucosal lesions, some (esp. HPV-18) more frequent in adeno- than in squamous carcinoma of the cervix | |
| 8 | HPV-7, HPV-40, HPV-43 | Low-risk mucosal and cutaneous lesions, HPV-7 known as butcher's wart virus, often in lesions of HIV infected patients | |
| 9 | HPV-16, HPV-31, HPV-33, HPV-35, HPV-52, HPV-58, HPV-67 | High-risk malignant mucosal lesions, some (esp. HPV-16) more frequent in squamous than in adenocarcinoma of the cervix, HPV-16 most prevalent HPV type in cervical malignancies | |
| 10 | HPV-6, HPV-11, HPV-13, HPV-44, HPV-74 | Benign mucosal lesions. HPV-6 and HPV-11 in male and female genital warts, condylomata acuminata of cervix, laryngeal papillomas. Some of these lesions can progress malignantly | |
| Beta-papillomaviruses | 1 | HPV-5, HPV-8 (selected from a very type-rich genus) | Cutaneous benign and malignant lesions in EV and immune-suppressed patients |
| Gamma-papillomaviruses | 1 | HPV-4, HPV-65 (selected from a very type-rich genus) | Cutaneous benign lesions |
| Delta-papillomaviruses | 4 | Bovine papillomavirus-1 (BPV-1) (selected from a type-rich genus) | Fibropapillomas in cattle, sarcoids in horses. An important cell culture model. |
| Kappa-papillomaviruses | 1 | Cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (CRPV) | Cutaneous lesions. An important animal model |
| Mu-papillomaviruses | 1, 2 | HPV-1, HPV-63 | Cutaneous lesions, frequently in footwarts |
| Nu-papillomaviruses | 1 | HPV-41 (unrelated to any other HPV type) | Cutaneous lesions |
| Xi-papillomaviruses | 1 | BPV-3, BPV-4, BPV-4 | Papillomas of the alimentary canal. BPV-4 is an important model for multi-step carcinogenesis and vaccination research |
The papillomaviruses were recently recognized by the International Council on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) as an independent virus family, papillomaviridae, which also introduced the taxonomic levels “genus” and “species” between the familiar description of these viruses as “types”.