Abstract
Normal mammary epithelial cells are efficiently immortalized by the E6 gene of human papillomavirus (HPV)-16, a virus commonly associated with cervical cancers. Surprisingly, introduction of the E6 gene from HPV-6, which is rarely found in cervical cancer, or bovine papillomavirus (BPV)-1, into normal mammary cells resulted in the generation of immortal cell lines. The establishment of HPV-6 and BPV-1 E6-immortalized cells was less efficient and required a longer period in comparison to HPV-16 E6. These HPV-6- and BPV-1 E6-immortalized cells demonstrated dramatically reduced levels of p53 protein by immunoprecipitation. While the half-life of p53 protein in normal mammary epithelial cells was ~3 h, it was reduced to ~15 min in all the E6-immortalized cells. These results demonstrate that the E6 genes of both high-risk and low-risk papilloma viruses immortalize human mammary epithelial cells and induce a marked degradation of p53 protein in vivo.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1847-1852 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | EMBO Journal |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1993 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- E6
- Half-life
- Human papillomavirus
- Mammary epithelial cells
- P53 protein
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuroscience(all)
- Molecular Biology
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Immunology and Microbiology(all)