Genetic variability in the E6 and E7 oncogenes of HPV52 and its prevalence in the Taizhou area, China

Abstract

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) 52 is one of the prevalent oncogenic HPV genotypes in East Asia. Chinese women have the highest susceptibility to the HPV52 type, but research data on HPV52 genetic variability and its carcinogenicity in China is lacking. Methods The present study aimed to investigate the genetic variability of HPV52 currently circulating among Chinese women by PCR sequencing the entire E6 and E7 oncogenes. HPV52 sequence alignment, genetic heterogeneity analyses and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree construction were performed by BioEdit software and MEGA X software. Results Between 2016 and 2018, the overall HPV infection rate was 21.3%, of which HPV52 was the most prevalent high-risk type (17.2%) in the Taizhou area, China. A total of 339 single HPV52-positive samples were included in this study. We obtained 27 distinct variation patterns of HPV52 with the accession GenBank numbers ON529577-ON529603. Phylogenetic analysis showed that 96.6% of HPV52 variants belonged to lineage B, which seemed to be uniquely defined by G350T, A379G (K93R) in the E6 gene and C751T, A801G in the E7 gene. Due to the dominance of lineage B in our study population, the results could not be used to assess the association of the HPV52 (sub)lineage with the risk of cervical lesions. In addition, no significant trends were observed between the nucleotide substitutions of HPV52 variants and the risk of cervical carcinogenesis. Conclusion Our data showed that HPV52 variants were strongly biased towards lineage B. These results confirmed that cervical lesions in the Taizhou area are highly attributable to HPV52, which may be due to the high infection rate of lineage B in the population.

Phylogenetic analysis and antigenic epitope prediction for E6 and E7 of Alpha-papillomavirus 9 in Taizhou, China

“…According to our previous findings, the odds ratio (OR) for CIN2 + in women infected with α-9 HPV is 3.2 when compared to women infected with α-5, α-6, or α-7 [ 7 ]. The genetic variation of E6 or E7 genes may correlate highly with cancer risk in Taizhou [ 21 – 23 ]. Therefore, E6 or E7 molecules might be regarded as ideal targets for HPV therapeutic vaccine development and cervical cancer treatment.…”

Cervical carcinogenesis risk association of HPV33 E6 and E7 genetic variations in Taizhou, Southeast China

“…It is hypothesized that the substitution of G542T(R145I) may increase the infection rate of the HPV33 variant in Southwest China by reducing its immunogenicity and enhancing its adaptability to the environment [ 22 ]. In addition, the 93rd residue is the common nonsynonymous substitution in the E6 gene of α-9 HPV types [ 14 , 15 , 22 ]. These findings are valuable for the development of therapeutic vaccines and cancer immunotherapies.…”