Serum samples from several groups of patients attending a gynecology clinic were analyzed by ELISA for specific antibodies recognizing surface epitopes on intact human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11 L1 virus-like particles (VLPs) that were synthesized in vitro. In these samples, positive IgG and IgM reactivities to HPV-11 L1 VLPs were, respectively, 12% and 6% for 87 controls, 46% and 67% for 79 condyloma patients, 30% and 64% for 72 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia patients, 16% and 19% for 63 pregnant women at time of delivery, and 5% and 0 in their 63 newborns. IgA reactivities were low and not significantly different. The prevalence of IgG-positivity in HPV-6/11 DNA-positive patients increased from 46% with HPV-11 L1 VLPs to 76% when the sera were additionally screened with HPV-6 L1 VLPs. These data show that HPV-6 and -11 L1 VLPs are effective antigens for serologic studies and they detect type-specific antibodies.

A battery of immunological tests were used to investigate mutants which had been determined as lacking one or two ribosomal proteins on the basis of two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels. Proteins which were confirmed as missing from the ribosome in one or more mutants were large subunit proteins L1, L15, L19, L24, L27, L28, L30 and L33 and small subunit proteins S1, S9, S17 and S20. Cross-reacting material (CRM) was also absent from the post-ribosomal supernatant except in the case of protein S1. Since mutants lacking protein L11 have been previously described, any one of 13 of the 52 ribosomal proteins can be missing. None of these 13 proteins, except S1, can therefore have an indispensable role in ribosome function or assembly. In several mutants in which a protein was not missing but altered, it was present as several moieties of differing charge and size.

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