Influence of chromosomal integration on glucocorticoid-regulated transcription of growth-stimulating papillomavirus genes E6 and E7 in cervical carcinoma cells

Journal Article · Fri Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.88.4.1411· OSTI ID:6045544

Von Knebel Doeberitz, M; Bauknecht, T; Bartsch, D; Zur Hausen, H ^[1]

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1. Inst. fur Virusforshung/ATV, Heidelberg (West Germany)

In most cervical carcinoma cells the E6 and E7 genes of specific human papillomaviruses are transcribed from viral sequences integrated into host cell chromosomes. Glucocorticoids activate the promoter elements of various human papillomaviruses in transient-expression assays. The authors have analyzed the effect of dexamethasone on the transcription rate of human papillomaviruses 18 E6 and E7 genes integrated at different chromosomal sites in four cervical cancer cell lines. Dexamethasone led to an increase in the transcription rate of the integrated E6-E7 sequences in C4-1 and C4-2 cells but led to a decrease in SW 756 cells and did not affect the transcription rate in HeLa cells. It thus appears that dominant regulatory mechanisms presumably depending on the chromosomal integration site are able to override the response of the viral promoter to steroid hormones. The growth rate of all dexamethasone-treated cell lines correlated consistently with the expression of the papillomavirus E6 and E7 genes, supporting their role in the maintenance of the proliferative phenotype of cervical carcinoma cells. Since human papillomaviruses are integrated into the host cell genome at variable, presumably randomly selected chromosomal loci, regulatory mechanisms that influence viral gene expression, and hence cell growth, may differ among cancers of independent clonal origin.

• OSTI ID: 6045544
• Journal Information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (United States), Vol. 88:4; ISSN 0027-8424
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
CARCINOMAS
ETIOLOGY
GLUCOCORTICOIDS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
ONCOGENIC VIRUSES
GENE REGULATION
TUMOR CELLS
GENE RECOMBINATION
CELL PROLIFERATION
DEXAMETHASONE
HELA CELLS
MESSENGER-RNA
PHOSPHORUS 32
SCINTILLATION COUNTING
THYMIDINE
TRANSCRIPTION
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
ADRENAL HORMONES
ANIMAL CELLS
AZINES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CORTICOSTEROIDS
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DISEASES
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HORMONES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
ISOTOPES
KETONES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MICROORGANISMS
NEOPLASMS
NUCLEI
NUCLEIC ACIDS
NUCLEOSIDES
NUCLEOTIDES
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
PARASITES
PHOSPHORUS ISOTOPES
PREGNANES
PYRIMIDINES
RADIOISOTOPES
RIBOSIDES
RNA
STEROID HORMONES
STEROIDS
VIRUSES
550201* - Biochemistry- Tracer Techniques