title: Cellular transformation by human papillomaviruses: lessons learned by comparing high- and low-risk viruses.
abstract: The oncogenic potential of papillomaviruses (PVs) has been appreciated since the 1930s yet the mechanisms of virally-mediated cellular transformation are still being revealed. Reasons for this include: a) the oncoproteins are multifunctional, b) there is an ever-growing list of cellular interacting proteins, c) more than one cellular protein may bind to a given region of the oncoprotein, and d) there is only limited information on the proteins encoded by the corresponding non-oncogenic PVs. The perspective of this review will be to contrast the activities of the viral E6 and E7 proteins encoded by the oncogenic human PVs (termed high-risk HPVs) to those encoded by their non-oncogenic counterparts (termed low-risk HPVs) in an attempt to sort out viral life cycle-related functions from oncogenic functions. The review will emphasize lessons learned from the cell culture studies of the HPVs causing mucosal/genital tract cancers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Aloysius J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Klingelhutz
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roman
mesh_terms: D052685:Alphapapillomavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D006801:Humans; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral