Enhancer-promoter activity of human papillomavirus type 16 long control regions isolated from cell lines SiHa and CaSki and cervical cancer biopsies.

Expression of human papillomavirus 16 (HPV-16) oncogenes is markedly higher in cervical cancer cells than in precancerous cells, and the elevated expression is believed to be required for the malignant phenotypes. We compared cancer cell lines CaSki (with 200 to 400 copies of HPV-16 DNA per cell) and SiHa (with one to two copies of HPV-16 DNA per cell) for the E7 expression in cells and the enhancer-promoter activity of the isolated viral long control region (LCR). Although these parameters per cell were 10-fold higher in CaSki than in SiHa, the levels of the E7 mRNA and protein per HPV DNA copy were 10- to 20-fold higher in SiHa than in CaSki. Characterization of the isolated LCRs showed that, whereas the LCR from CaSki resembled the prototype in structure and activity, the LCR from SiHa, with a deletion of 38 base pairs, enhanced transcription from P97 as assayed by using a plasmid capable of expressing luciferase. The upregulation appeared to be due to removal of one of the silencer YY1-binding sites. Furthermore, we isolated and characterized LCRs from 51 cervical cancer patients’ biopsies. Among them, one with a deletion including YY1-binding sites and the other with a substitution in a YY1-motif were found to enhance the transcription. These findings suggest that mutation affecting YY1-motifs in the LCR is one of the mechanisms enhancing the viral oncogene expression in the course of progression of cancer cells.