Papillomaviruses (PV) are small, nonenveloped, DNA viruses, which had originally been grouped together with the Polyomaviruses in one family, Papovaviridae. In the year 2004 the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses officially recognized two separate families: Papillomaviridae and Polyomaviridae. PV are pathogens of skin and mucosa in animals and humans, and they are very species-specific. The only known case of cross-species infection is the infection of horses by bovine papillomaviruses (BPV) type 1 and 2. Infection by high-risk types of human papillomaviruses (HPV) such as HPV type 16 and 18 is directly related to the subsequent development of cervical carcinoma in women. In the year 1995 The International Agency for Research on Cancer officially declared, that HPV-16 and HPV-18 are carcinogenic for humans. Animal PV cause various diseases in both farm and companion animals, e.g. skin and teat papillomatosis in cattle, canine oral papillomatosis, oesophageal papillomas and carcinoma in cattle and equine sarcoids. The mechanisms of carcinogenesis caused by PV were initially established using animal models and specifically chosen PV, particularly cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (CRPV), BPV and canine oral papillomavirus (COPV). In the paper the organization and structure of the PV genome, the characteristics of early and late regions, enzymatic and regulatory proteins, encoded by specific open reading frames and engaged in virus replication process, as well as structural proteins that take part in virus-cell interaction have been discussed. The replication process of PV and mechanisms of carcinogenic transformation of cells infected with PV were also described. The possibility of the implementation of specific immunoprophylaxis and the necessity of improvement of diagnostic methods, as well as conducting molecular comparative studies of human and animal PV, important for the protection of animal health and public health, have been indicated.
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