What is it about?
Tumors caused by HPV kill over a quarter million people annually and require the expression of the HPV E6 oncogene. This viral protein has classically been linked to these malignancies by its degradation of the tumor suppressor, p53. This review discusses the ongoing work examining the ability of HPV E6 to affect other cellular pathways.
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Why is it important?
As common laboratory cell lines (like HeLa) express HPV E6 and are used in wide ranging experiments, it is generally important for scientists to understand the impact of the viral protein on cellular pathways that may impact the results of their work. For example, although routinely used to study DNA damage repair, the HPV E6 expressed in HeLa cells interacts with a variety of repair proteins.
Perspectives
So often, the complexity of HPV E6 biology is masked by a p53-centric view. My favorite thing about this review is that not only does it provide an accurate picture of the multi-functionality of HPV E6, but also includes HPV E6 from lesser studied viruses in the discussion.
Dr Nicholas A Wallace
Kansas State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Novel Functions of the Human Papillomavirus E6 Oncoproteins, Annual Review of Virology, November 2015, Annual Reviews,
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-virology-100114-055021.
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