Abstract 4049: Conserved region 2 of Human Papilloma Virus 18 protein E7 is required for E7 binding to centromere protein C

Proceedings: AACR 107th Annual Meeting 2016; April 16-20, 2016; New Orleans, LA The molecular genetics of cervical cancer have not been thoroughly elucidated, despite the fact that cervical cancer is responsible for the deaths of over 250,000 women annually worldwide. Infection with human papillomaviruses (HPVs) is linked to the pathogenesis of a variety of human diseases, including genital warts, laryngeal papillomas, and most notably, cervical cancer. Recently HPV infection was reported to be associated with head and neck cancers.High-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are etiologically linked to human cervical and oral cancers. HPV infection leads to aneuploidy, a numerical chromosomal aberration caused by dysregulation of chromosomal segregation. We found that high-risk HPV18 and HPV58 E7 proteins bind to centromere protein C (CENP-C), a component of the kinetochore that is essential for proper chromosomal segregation. Low-risk HPV4, HPV6, and HPV11 E7s do not bind to CENP-C. The PxDLLCxE sequence in conserved region 2 (CR2) of HPV18 E7 is required for E7 binding to CENP-C. Our results indicate that differences in the ability of high- and low-risk HPV E7s to bind to CENP-C reflect the different oncogenic potentials of high- and low-risk type HPVs.We demonstrated that the E7 proteins from low-risk HPVs do not bind to CENP-C, and that the PxDLLCxE sequence in conserved region 2 of the HPV18 E7 protein is required for E7 binding to CENP-C. CENP-C is a component of the inner kinetochore, and as such, it plays an essential role in proper chromosome segregation, mitotic checkpoint function, and kinetochore assembly. Therefore, we hypothesize that differences in the capability of various E7s from low- and high-risk type HPVs to bind to CENP-C reflect the different oncogenic potential of high- and low-risk type HPVs. Citation Format: Aoi Tokuda, Shoko Takahashi, Masafumi Yoshimoto, Yuji Yaginuma. Conserved region 2 of Human Papilloma Virus 18 protein E7 is required for E7 binding to centromere protein C. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4049.