Aim: To determine if human papillomaviruses (HPVs) play a role in the histogenesis of adenosarcomas of the uterine cervix.

Methods: Nine archival cases of primary cervical adenosarcoma were studied. The HPV status of the nine histologically proven tumours was investigated by non-isotopic in situ hybridisation (NISH) and PCR. NISH was performed using digoxigenin labelled probes to HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31 and 33. PCR used GP5+/GP6+ primers to the HPV L1 gene.

Results: Neither the benign epithelial components nor the malignant stromal components of the 9 neoplasms harboured nuclear NISH signals for the HPV types investigated. Amplimers of the HPV L1 gene were not detected by PCR in any of the tumours studied.

Conclusion: HPVs do not appear to play an aetiological role in cervical adenosarcomas. This suggests that a different histogenetic pathway for this rare tumour type must exist.