Oncoprotein E6 is essential for oncogenesis induced by human papillomaviruses (HPVs). The solution structure of HPV16-E6 C-terminal domain reveals a zinc binding fold. A model of full-length E6 is proposed and analyzed in the context of HPV evolution. E6 appears as a chameleon protein combining a conserved structural scaffold with highly variable surfaces participating in generic or specialized HPV functions. We investigated surface residues involved in two specialized activities of high-risk genital HPV E6: p53 tumor suppressor degradation and nucleic acid binding. Screening of E6 surface mutants identified an in vivo p53 degradation-defective mutant that fails to recruit p53 to ubiquitin ligase E6AP and restores high p53 levels in cervical carcinoma cells by competing with endogeneous E6. We also mapped the nucleic acid binding surface of E6, the positive potential of which correlates with genital oncogenicity. E6 structure-function analysis provides new clues for understanding and counteracting the complex pathways of HPV-mediated pathogenesis.
The E6 oncoproteins from high-risk mucosal human papillomavirus (HPV) induce cervical cancer via two major activities, the binding and the degradation of the p53 protein and PDZ domain-containing proteins. Human MAGI-1 is a multi-PDZ domain protein implicated into protein complex assembly at cell-cell contacts. High-risk mucosal HPV E6 proteins interact with the PDZ1 domain of MAGI-1 via a C-terminal consensus binding motif. Here, we developed a medium throughput protocol to accurately measure by surface plasmon resonance affinity constants of protein domains binding to peptidic sequences produced as recombinant fusions to the glutathione-S-transferase (GST). This approach was applied to measure the binding of MAGI-1 PDZ1 to the C-termini of viral or cellular proteins. Both high-risk mucosal HPV E6 C-terminal peptides and cellular partners of MAGI-1 PDZ1 bind to MAGI-1 PDZ1 with comparable dissociation constants in the micromolar range. MAGI-1 PDZ1 shows a preference for C-termini with a valine at position 0 and a negative charge at position -3, confirming previous studies performed with HPV18 E6. A detailed combined analysis via site-directed mutagenesis of the HPV16 C-terminal peptide and PDZ1 indicated that interactions mediated by charged residues upstream the PDZ-binding motif strongly contribute to binding selectivity of this interaction. In addition, our work highlighted the K(499) residue of MAGI-1 as a novel determinant of binding specificity. Finally, we showed that MAGI-1 PDZ1 also binds to the C-termini of LPP and Tax proteins, which were already known to bind to PDZ proteins but not to MAGI-1.
Integration of HPV16 DNA into the host chromosome usually disrupts the E1 and/or E2 genes. The present study investigated the disruption of E1, E2 genes in a total of eighty four HPV16-positive precancerous and cervical cancer specimens derived from Greek women (seventeen paraffin-embedded cervical biopsies and sixty seven Thin Prep samples). Complete E2 and E1 genes were amplified using three and nine overlapping primer sets respectively, in order to define the sites of disruption. Extensive mapping analysis revealed that disruption/deletion events within E2 gene occurred in high grade and cervical cancer samples (x(2) test, P < 0.01), while no evidence of E2 gene disruption was documented among low grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias. In addition, disruptions within the E1 gene occur both in high and low grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. This leads to the assumption that in low grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias only E1 gene disruption was involved (Fisher's exact test, P < 0.05), while in high grade malignancies and cervical cancer cases deletions in both E1 and E2 genes occurred. Furthermore, the most prevalent site of disruption of E1 gene was located between nucleotides 1059 and 1323, while the most prevalent deleted region of the E2 gene was located between nucleotides 3172 and 3649 (E2 hinge region). Therefore, it is proposed that each population has its own profile of frequencies and sites of disruptions and extensive mapping analysis of E1 and E2 genes is mandatory in order to determine suitable markers for HPV16 DNA integration analysis in distinct populations.
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