PURPOSE HPV16 is associated with ~50% of all cervical cancers worldwide. The E6 and E7 genes of oncogenic HPV types, such as HPV16, are necessary for the HPV transforming function and tumorogenesis making them ideal targets for novel treatments. Radioimmunotherapy employs systemically administered radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that bind to tumor-associated antigens. Previously we de...

BACKGROUND Human papilloma virus (HPV) load and physical status are considered useful parameters for clinical evaluation of cervical squamous cell neoplasia. However, the errors implicit in HPV gene quantification by PCR are not well documented. We have undertaken the first rigorous evaluation of the errors that can be expected when using SYBR green qPCR for quantification of HPV type 16 gene c...

OBJECTIVE Vaccination based on tumor antigen is an attractive strategy for cancer prevention and therapy. Cervical cancer is highly associated with human papillomavirus, especially type 16. We developed DNA vaccines encoding heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) linked to HPV16 E6 or E7 to test if HSP60 chimeric DNA vaccines may generate strong E6 and/or E7-specific immune response and anti-tumor effec...

We attempted to extend the lifespan of CD34+ stem/progenitor cells in human cord blood (CB) by transduction with lentiviral vectors carrying the human telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT) and/or the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) E6 and E7 oncogenes. We found that hTERT was incapable of prolonging the replicative capacity of CB cells maintained under serum-free conditions in the presence ...

The cutaneous beta human papillomavirus (beta HPV) types appear to be involved in skin carcinogenesis. However, only a few beta HPVs have been investigated so far. Here, we compared the properties of E6 and E7 oncoproteins from six uncharacterized beta HPVs (14, 22, 23, 24, 36, 49). Only HPV49 E6 and E7 immortalized primary human keratinocytes and efficiently deregulated the p53 and pRb pathway...

To assess the relationship of E2 gene disruption with viral gene expression and clinical outcome in human papillomavirus (HPV) positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, we evaluated 31 oropharyngeal and 17 non-oropharyngeal HPV16 positive carcinomas using two PCR-based methods to test for disruption of E2, followed by Sanger sequencing. Expression of HPV16 E6, E7 and E2 transcripts, along...

Human anal cancers are associated with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) that cause other anogenital cancers and head and neck cancers. As with other cancers, HPV16 is the most common high-risk HPV in anal cancers. We describe the generation and characterization of a mouse model for human anal cancer. This model makes use of K14E6 and K14E7 transgenic mice in which the HPV16 E6 and E7 gene...

The aim of this study was to analyse the correlation between a new multiplex qPCR assay and a reference qPCR assay for assessment of the human papillomavirus (HPV16) load and the viral genome status. The study was performed on 100 HPV16 positive samples containing premalignant lesions and carcinomas. HPV16 E2 and E6 gene loads were assessed by two PCR methods. The load of E2 and E6 was normaliz...

The E6 protein of the high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) and the cellular ubiquitin-protein ligase E6AP form a complex which causes the ubiquitination and degradation of p53. We show here that HPV16 E6 promotes the ubiquitination and degradation of E6AP itself. The half-life of E6AP is shorter in HPV-positive cervical cancer cells than in HPV-negative cervical cancer cells, and E6AP is sta...