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1 Department of Medical Microbiology, Medical and Health Science Centre, University of Debrecen, PO Box 17, H-4012 Debrecen, Hungary
2 Tumourvirus Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, PO Box 17, H-4012 Debrecen, Hungary
3 Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Grace Cancer Drug Center, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm & Carlton Street, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA
Correspondence
György Veress
veregy{at}jaguar.unideb.hu
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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Cancer of the uterine cervix is one of the most common female malignancies worldwide. Oncogenic or high-risk human papillomaviruses (such as HPV-16 and 18) are thought to play an important role in the development of cervical cancer. The E6 and E7 proteins of high-risk HPVs play a crucial role in the induction of malignant transformation of the host cells (Rapp & Chen, 1998
; Münger et al., 2001
). The HPV-16 E6 and E7 oncoproteins can bind and functionally inactivate the tumour suppressor proteins p53 and members of the retinoblastoma (Rb) tumour suppressor family (pRb, p107 and p130), respectively (Davies et al., 1993
; Münger & Howley, 2002
). E6 binds to E6AP, a ubiquitin protein ligase, and the resulted complex targets the p53 tumour suppressor protein for proteasome-mediated degradation (Münger & Howley, 2002
). The interaction of hypophosphorylated Rb and E7 leads to the release of active E2F transcription factors, which in turn stimulate the expression of multiple genes encoding proteins essential for S phase progression (Münger & Howley, 2002
). HPV-16 E6 was also shown to transactivate several viral (Desaintes et al., 1992
) and cellular (Klingelhutz et al., 1996
; Rapp & Chen, 1998
; Lopez-Ocejo et al., 2000
) promoters.
The expression of survivin was shown to be negatively regulated by the cellular tumour suppressor protein p53 (Hoffman et al., 2002
; Mirza et al., 2002
). As the HPV-16 E6 oncoprotein is able to induce the degradation of p53, we assumed that it might have an effect on survivin transcription. Moreover, the expression of survivin was shown to be regulated by other viral (Punga & Akusjarvi, 2003
) and cellular (Sommer et al., 2003
) oncogenes. These considerations led us to investigate the possible effects of the HPV-16 oncogenes on the expression of the human survivin gene.
In this study, we found that HPV-16 E6 has a significant role in the regulation of survivin gene transcription, while HPV-16 E7 had no major effect on survivin transcription. E6 significantly upregulated survivin promoter activity. Consistently, HPV oncoproteins upregulated endogenous survivin mRNA levels in human embryonic fibroblast (HEF) cells. The effect of E6 on the survivin promoter was mediated largely by the p53 oncoprotein. In consideration of the potential role of survivin in cervical carcinogenesis, our findings suggest that the oncogenic property of HPV-16 may partially result from the upregulation of survivin expression by E6.
| METHODS |
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The plasmid encoding wild-type HPV-16 E6 (pJ4
-16E6) and its deletion mutant derivatives (pJ4
-16E6
106110, -16E6
111115 and -16E6
128132) were kindly provided by Dr Karen H. Vousden (Crook et al., 1991
). The reporter construct p53CON-Luc containing a consensus p53-binding site cloned into the luciferase reporter vector pGUP.PA.8 was a gift from Dr Jerry W. Shay (Funk et al., 1992
). The expression vector pcDNA3-p53Pro carrying the codon 72 proline variant of human p53 was provided by Dr Lawrence Banks (Thomas et al., 1999
).
Cell culture and retroviral transduction.
HeLa HPV-18-positive cervical adenocarcinoma cell line, MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line and Saos-2 human osteosarcoma cell line were obtained from the ATCC. HEF cells were prepared from an embryo removed during elective abortion. HEF cells have been routinely used in our laboratory to cultivate human cytomegalovirus strains. PA317-LXSN, -16E6, -16E7 and -16E6E7 cells are recombinant retrovirus producing cell lines obtained from the ATCC (Halbert et al., 1991
). All these cell lines were maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10 % fetal calf serum, 2 mM L-glutamine and antibiotics (100 U penicillin ml1 and 100 µg streptomycin ml1).
Amphotropic retroviruses produced by the packaging cell lines were titrated on HeLa cells using G418 (500 µg ml1) as a selective agent and counting the number of drug-resistant colonies after methylene blue staining. HEF cells were transducted by the different retrovirus vectors and selected in media containing 200 µg G418 ml1.
Transient transfection and luciferase test.
HeLa and MCF-7 cells were transfected with 2 µg of the reporter vectors and 1 µg of different expression vectors by using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen). Saos-2 cells were transfected with 5 µg of the reporter vectors together with 2 µg of the expression vectors by electroporation (950 µF, 300 V) using GenePulser II (Bio-Rad). The cells were harvested 48 h after transfection by the addition of 250 µl Reporter lysis buffer (Promega) and one freezethaw cycle. The luciferase assay system of Promega was used to measure the luciferase activity of cell extracts. The Bradford protein assay was performed to standardize the protein concentration of the cell extracts. Each transfection experiment was performed independently at least three times.
Synchronization of the cell cycle.
For G1 arrest, HEF-derived cell lines were treated with aphidicolin (10 µM) for 18 h and then for a further 24 h. For G2/M arrest, cells were treated with aphidicolin (10 µM) for 18 h and then released into nocodazole (0·2 µg ml1) for 24 h.
In the case of HeLa cells, G1, S and G2/M arrest were induced by treating the cells with 10 µM aphidicolin, 2 mM thymidine or 0·2 µg nocodazole ml1 for 24 h, respectively.
Semi-quantitative RT-PCR.
Total cellular RNA was prepared from the cell lines by using TRI reagent (Sigma) according to the manufacturer's protocol. The DuraScript RT-PCR kit (Sigma) was used to prepare cDNA. The reverse transcriptase reaction mixtures were incubated at 50 °C for 50 min. For reverse transcription, the antisense primers used for amplification of survivin, HPV-16 E6, E7 and GAPDH cDNA were used (see below). PCR amplification of target cDNA was performed in a final volume of 50 µl containing 5 µl first strand cDNA, 2·5 U RedTaq polymerase (Sigma), 1x PCR buffer, 200 µM each dNTP and 20 pmol each forward- and reverse-specific oligonucleotide primers. The primer pair used for amplifying survivin cDNA was composed of a forward primer: 5'-GGCAGCCCTTTCTCAAGGACCACC-3' and a reverse primer: 5'-GATGGCACGGCGCACTTTCTTCGC-3 (Löhr et al., 2003
). HPV-16 E6 was amplified using the primers 5'-TGTTTCAGGACCCACAGGAG-3' and 5'-TTCTTCAGGACACAGTGGCT-3'. The primer pair 5'-GCAACCAGAGACAACTGATCTCTAC-3' and 5'-GGTCTTCCAAAGTACGAATGTCTACG-3' was used to amplify HPV-16 E7 cDNA. GAPDH was amplified using the primers 5'-AATCCCATCACCATCTTCCAG-3' and 5'-TCATGAGTCCTTCCACGATACC-3'. Amplification of cDNAs was performed by an initial denaturation step at 95 °C for 2 min, followed by 23 cycles of denaturation at 95 °C for 30 s, annealing at 60 (survivin) or 55 °C (E6, E7 and GAPDH) for 90 s, and extension at 72 °C for 90 s. These PCR conditions resulted in amplimer intensities proportional to the amount of cDNA templates.
Northern blot hybridization.
RNA samples were run in formaldehyde/agarose gels, blotted onto Hybond-N+ nylon membranes (Amersham) and hybridized with radioactively labelled survivin and GAPDH probes. DNA probes were labelled by random priming (Prime-a-Gene labelling system; Promega) using 50 µCi (1·85 kBq) [
-32P]ATP (with a specific activity of 3000 Ci mmol1) and purified by gel filtration on DyeEx spin columns (Qiagen). Hybridization was performed in 5x SSC, 50 % formamide, 1 % SDS, 5x Dernhardt's solution and 100 µg denatured salmon sperm DNA ml1 at 42 °C overnight. The membranes were washed twice in 2x SSC, 0·1 % SDS for 5 min at 42 °C, and twice in 0·2x SSC, 0·1 % SDS for 15 min at 42 °C. Detection of hybridization signal was performed in a Bio-Rad phosphorimager (Personal Molecular Imager FX).
Flow cytometric analysis.
For analysis of the cell cycle, cells were harvested by trypsinization, washed in PBS, fixed in 70 % ethanol, stained (in PBS with 20 µg propidium iodide ml1, 200 µg RNase A ml1 and 0·1 % Triton-X 100) for 30 min and analysed for DNA content on a FACScan (Beckton Dickinson) cytometer. In order to assess the distribution of cells within the cell cycle, the ModFit LT software (Beckton Dickinson) was used.
| RESULTS |
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To further investigate the role of p53 in the regulation of the survivin promoter by E6, we tested some HPV-16 E6 deletion mutants that were previously characterized for p53 binding, in vitro p53 degradation and transactivation functions (Crook et al., 1991
). HeLa cells were transfected with the survivin reporter construct pLuc-230c, along with either empty vector, expression vectors containing wild-type or different deletion mutants of 16E6 (Fig. 4
). Two deletion mutants (
106110 and
111115), which lost p53 degradation activity but retained the ability to transactivate the adenovirus (Ad) E2 promoter, had no or very low transactivating effect on the survivin promoter. Conversely, a mutant (
128132) that had showed almost wild-type p53 degradation, but very low AdE2 transactivation, retained near wild-type transactivation effect on the survivin promoter (Fig. 4
). These results further suggest that the ability of E6 to bind p53 and induce its degradation has a major role in the transactivation of the human survivin promoter.
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Next, we tested the effect of HPV-16 E6 on the activity of the survivin promoter in the different phases of the cell cycle. HeLa cells were co-transfected by the survivin reporter construct pLuc-230c along with vector control or HPV-16 E6 expression vector. After synchronization of the cell cycle, the activity of the survivin promoter was measured by luciferase activity assay. Cells were arrested in the G1, S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle by treatment with aphidicolin, thymidine or nocodazole, respectively (Fig. 6b
). The results of luciferase tests performed in synchronized HeLa cells showed that HPV-16 E6 was able to transactivate the survivin promoter in all phases of the cell cycle (Fig. 6a
). This indicates that the ability of E6 to transactivate the survivin promoter is independent of the cell cycle.
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| DISCUSSION |
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In Saos-2 cells, which are p53 null, HPV-16 E6 had no transactivating effect on the survivin promoter. On the other hand, we found strong transactivation effect of E6 on the survivin promoter in HeLa and MCF-7 cells, which have functionally active p53 protein. This suggests that transactivation of the survivin promoter by E6 is a specific effect and is largely mediated by the degradation of p53 by E6. Our results with the E6 mutants also support this suggestion. The deletion mutants of E6 that are unable to bind and degrade p53 (
106110 and
111115) had no or very low transactivating effect on the survivin promoter. On the other hand, a mutant of E6 (
128132) that is able to bind and degrade p53 retained the ability to transactivate the survivin promoter, in spite of the fact that it is unable to transactivate the AdE2 promoter (Crook et al., 1991
). All these results indicate that HPV-16 E6 specifically transactivates the survivin promoter, largely through its ability to induce the degradation of p53.
We used HEF cells, which have native p53 and Rb, to study the effects of the HPV oncogenes on the transcription of the endogenous survivin gene. Control HEF cells had low survivin mRNA levels, while expression of HPV-16 E6 and/or E7 by retroviral transduction was found to induce endogenous survivin transcription. This is in accordance with the results of the transient expression assays where we found E6 to transactivate the human survivin promoter. Although HPV-16 E7 did not transactivate the survivin promoter in transient expression assays, it induced endogenous survivin mRNA levels in HEF cells. Consistent with our findings, a previous study, using cDNA expression arrays also found that HPV-16 E6/E7 is able to induce survivin expression in human keratinocytes (Nees et al., 2000
).
As the expression of survivin is strictly regulated by the cell cycle and the HPV oncoproteins have the ability to modify the cell cycle, we studied whether the effect of the HPV oncogenes on the expression of the survivin gene is dependent on the cell cycle. Experiments with HeLa cells where the cell cycle was synchronized showed that the transactivation effect of E6 on the human survivin promoter was independent of the cell cycle (Fig. 6
). In accordance with this, we found that the induction of the endogenous survivin mRNA by HPV-16 E6/E7 in HEF cells was also independent of the cell cycle (Fig. 7
). These results indicate that the HPV-16 E6 oncoprotein does not activate survivin transcription through modulation of the cell cycle. Interestingly, the human immunodeficiency virus-1 Vpr protein transactivates the survivin promoter through inducing arrest in G2/M of the cell cycle (Zhu et al., 2003
).
Other cellular and viral oncoproteins have also been reported to activate survivin transcription. Most notably, the Ad2 E1B-55K protein was shown to relieve p53-mediated transcriptional repression of the survivin promoter (Punga & Akusjarvi, 2003
). This finding is in accordance with our results, since the high-risk HPV E6 oncoproteins have several homologous functions with the Ad E1B proteins, including binding to p53, transactivation or repression of different gene promoters and inhibition of programmed cell death (apoptosis) (Rapp & Chen, 1998
; Finzer et al., 2002
; Cuconati & White, 2002
). These conserved functions are thought to have important roles in the oncogenic activity of these oncoproteins.
High-risk HPV oncoproteins have effects on apoptosis, but these effects are largely modulated by the cell type, apoptosis inducing agents and experimental conditions. HPV-16 E6 tends to inhibit apoptosis in the natural host cells of the virus (primary keratinocytes), when apoptosis is induced by relatively physiological stimuli such as differentiation (by serum/calcium treatment) or Fas ligand (CD96L) (Alfandari et al., 1999
; Aguilar-Lemarroy et al., 2002
). The precise mechanism of the anti-apoptotic function of E6 is not known, but the binding and inhibition of pro-apoptotic proteins (p53, Bax and Bak) are thought to play a role (Finzer et al., 2002
). p53 is a transcriptionally active protein, and several of its functions are mediated by the transcriptional activation or repression of different cellular genes. As p53 downregulates survivin expression, and survivin is an anti-apoptotic protein, it was suggested that p53 induces apoptosis partially through inhibiting survivin transcription (Hoffman et al., 2002
; Mirza et al., 2002
). Furthermore, it can be speculated that the p53-mediated transcriptional transactivation of the survivin gene by HPV-16 E6 has a role in the anti-apoptotic function of this oncoprotein.
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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Received 29 March 2005;
accepted 12 August 2005.
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