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Analysis of human papillomavirus type 16 E6-E7 transcription in cervical carcinomas and normal cervical epithelium
M A Johnson1, P I Blomfield, I S Bevan
1Department of Cancer Studies, Cancer Research Campaign Laboratories, Birmingham, U.K.
Abstract:
Cervical biopsies were collected from Birmingham women having cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or invasive cervical carcinoma and normal controls, and examined for the presence of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) E6-E7 DNA and mRNA using an adaptation of the polymerase chain reaction. HPV-16 E6-E7 sequences were detected in all abnormal biopsies and in 90% of the normal biopsies examined, confirming previous studies describing the high prevalence of cervical HPV-16 infection. While we were unable to identify any qualitative differences in RNA transcripts from the p97 promoter, substantial quantitative differences in HPV-16-specific early region transcripts between normal and cytologically abnormal cervices were observed. These results suggest that although the level of E6-E7 transcription may contribute to the malignant phenotype, additional factors are likely to be important in the development of cervical neoplasia.