Patent ID: 7033797

Claim:
A method to distinguish between the presence of human papillomavirus 6 (HPV 6) and human papillomavirus 11 (HPV 11) antibodies in a sample suspected of containing either or both types of said antibodies comprising the steps of: a) contacting the sample with a modified recombinant human papillomavirus 6 (HPV6) L1 protein which comprises an HPV 11 conformational epitope; wherein the modified HPV 6 protein comprises a mutation at locations selected from the group consisting of: (i) K169, T172, P175, and A178; (ii) T345, T346, and S348; (iii) F49, R53, and A54; and (iv) E262, T270, S276, G277, T280, G283 and N289; and b) detecting binding between the antibodies present in the sample and the modified HPV6 protein; wherein binding to a heterologous HPV 11 conformational epitope indicates the presence of HPV 11 antibodies in the sample, and binding to a HPV 6 conformational epitope indicates the presence of HPV 6 antibodies in the sample.