Infection by human papillomaviruses (HPV) leads to the formation of benign lesions, warts, and in some cases, cervical cancer. The formation of these lesions is dependent upon increased expression of proangiogenic factors. Angiogenesis is linked to tissue hypoxia through the activity of the oxygen-sensitive hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α). Our studies indicate that the HPV E7 protein enhan...

The presentation of antigenic peptides by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules to CD4+ T cells is critical to the function of the immune system. In this study, we have utilized the sorting signal of the lysosomal-associated membrane protein LAMP-1 to target a model antigen, human papillomavirus 16 E7 (HPV-16 E7), into the endosomal and lysosomal compartments. The LAMP-1 sor...

Human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) infection is associated with a majority of cervical cancers and a significant proportion of head and neck cancers. Here, we describe a novel-engineered DNA vaccine that encodes a HPV-16 consensus E6/E7 fusion gene (pConE6E7) with the goal of increasing its antitumor cellular immunity. Compared to an early stage HPV-16 E7 DNA vaccine (pE7), this construct wa...

HPV-16 E6 and E7 genes are required to efficiently immortalize a broad spectrum of cell types including cervical keratinocytes. Therefore, the E6/E7 genes can be considered relevant targets for anti-cancer therapy. We produced several engineered hairpin (HP) ribozymes to specifically disrupt HPV-16 E6/E7 mRNA. After extensive biochemical characterization, one anti-E6 HP ribozyme (R434) was sele...

Several strategies that increase proteasomal degradation of antigen have been shown to improve MHC class I presentation of antigen. Because recent studies have demonstrated that the centrosome is a subcellular compartment rich in proteasomes, we hypothesized that targeting a tumor antigen to centrosomal compartments would enhance both the MHC class I presentation of antigen and the vaccine pote...

B-cell-activating factor (BAFF) belongs to the tumor necrosis factor family that not only stimulates B and T cells but also counteracts immune tolerance. BAFF is also a type II membrane protein, which is secreted through the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi apparatus pathway. Fusing an antigen to BAFF might enhance the presentation of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules. These ch...

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) is a common cancer in humans long known to be caused by tobacco and alcohol use, but now an increasing percentage of HNSCC is recognized to be caused by the same human papillomaviruses (HPV) that cause cervical and other anogenital cancers. HPV-positive HNSCCs differ remarkably from HPV-negative HNSCCs in their clinical response and molecular prope...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) 18 is related not only to squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, but also to adenocarcinoma and small cell carcinoma of the cervix, in which prognosis is known to be poor. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) that targets HPV18 E6 and E7 was tested in HPV18-positive cell lines to investigate its effect and investigate its mechanism of action. Nude mice were also tested in a ...

The E7 proteins of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) promote S-phase reentry in differentiated keratinocytes of the squamous epithelia to support viral DNA amplification. In this study, we showed that nuclear p130 was present in the differentiated strata of several native squamous epithelia susceptible to HPV infection. In contrast, p130 was below the level of detection in HPV-infected patient spec...

O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) transferase (OGT) increases O-GlcNAc modification (O-GlcNAcylation), and transcriptional co-regulator host cell factor 1 (HCF-1) is one of OGT targets. High-risk Human Papillomaviruses (HPVs) encode E6 and E7 oncoproteins, which promote cervical cancer. Here, we tested whether O-GlcNAc modification of HCF-1 affects HPV E6 and E7 expressions and tumorigene...