Up-regulation of hormone response of human papillomavirus type 16 expression and increased DNA-protein binding by consensus mutations of viral glucocorticoid response elements

Relationship between steroid hormone contraceptives and HPV, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical carcinoma

Available data demonstrate an increase in the transcription of high-risk papillomaviruses by the 16alpha-hydroxylation of estrogens, which is in line with the epidemiologic data showing an increased cervical carcinogenesis risk for long-term contraceptive-using, HPV-infected women. No evidence exists for an increase in HPV-negative contraceptive users.

The role of steroid contraceptive hormones in the pathogenesis of invasive cervical cancer: a review

Invasive cervical cancer remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, especially among women in the developing world where screening is either deficient or absent. Of all agents linked to the causation of this disease, high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) appears to be the strongest factor. However, not all women with HPV develop cervical cancer. Steroid contraception has been postulated to be one mechanism whereby HPV exerts its tumorigenic effect on cervical tissue. Steroids are thought to bind to specific DNA sequences within transcriptional regulatory regions on the HPV DNA to either increase or suppress transcription of various genes. Although some earlier studies were reassuring as no increased incidence of cervical cancer was observed, subsequent research has shown a causative association, especially among long-term users. The role of steroids was further enhanced by the discovery of hormone receptors in cervical tissue. Some earlier studies of oral contraceptive steroids found no increased risk, even after controlling for other risk factors, including smoking and number of partners. However, prospective studies have shown a greater progression of dysplasia to carcinoma-in-situ with more than 6 years of oral steroid contraceptive use. Similar findings were also evident from other work, including the Royal College of General Practitioners Oral Contraception Study. The WHO Collaborative Study of Neoplasia and Steroid Contraceptives showed a relative risk of 1.2 for invasive cancer in users of the long-acting progestational contraceptive, depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate. However, in users of more than 5 years duration, an estimate of 2.4 was reported. The upstream regulatory region (URR) of the HPV type 16 viral genome, mediates transcriptional control of the HPV genome and is thought to contain enhancer elements that are activated by steroid hormones. It has been shown that steroid hormones bind to specific glucorticoid-response elements within HPV-DNA. Experimental evidence has revealed that high-risk type HPV 16 are able to stimulate the development of vaginal and cervical squamous cell carcinomas in transgenic mice exposed to slow-release pellets of 17 beta-estradiol in the presence of human keratin-14 promoter. Squamous cell carcinomas developed in a multi-stage pathway only in transgenic mice and not in nontransgenic mice. The E6 oncoprotein of HPV 16 has been shown to bind to the p53 tumor suppressor gene and stimulate its degradation by a ubiquitin-dependent protease system. Steroid hormones are thought to increase the expression of the E6 and E7 HPV 16 oncogenes, which in turn bind to and degrade the p53 gene product, leading to apoptotic failure and carcinogenesis. However, the molecular basis of this remains to be proven.

The upstream regulatory region of human papillomavirus type 31 is insensitive to glucocorticoid induction

The upstream regulatory region (URR) of various types of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) has been shown to contain functional glucocorticoid response elements (GREs), including HPV type 11 (HPV11), HPV16, and HPV18. Glucocorticoids have been demonstrated to induce the transcriptional activity of the early promoters of these HPV types. Although it has been assumed that the URR of HPV31 contains at least one GRE, no functionality has been demonstrated. We attempt to show here inducibility of the URR of HPV31 by the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone (dex). By sequence analysis we identified three potential GREs in the URR of HPV31. Gel shift analysis indicated that each of these three sites has the potential to be a functional GRE. However, constructs containing the full-length URR, 5' deletions of the URR, and an internal fragment of the URR containing all three putative GREs were only weakly inducible by dex. Linker scanning mutants, whereby each potential GRE was replaced individually, in double combination, or in triple combination by a unique polylinker, had no effect on dex inducibility. Replacement of each of the three HPV31 GREs with the GRE of HPV18 failed to induce a response to dex. Placement of the HPV18 GRE into the URR of HPV31 in a region similar to its location in the HPV18 URR was also unable to result in a strong dex induction of the HPV31 URR. These data suggest that the lack of dex inducibility is due to the overall context of the HPV31 URR and may be dependent on the requirements of the major early promoter for transcriptional activation. Finally, replacement of the HPV18 GRE with each of the HPV31 GREs in HPV18 only showed weak inducibility, indicating that the three GREs of HPV31 are in fact only weak inducers of dex. Overall, these data suggest that dex responsiveness, along with oncogenic potential, may provide a possible explanation for the classification of HPV31 as an intermediate-risk virus and demonstrate the complexity of transcriptional regulation of the URR of HPV.

Induction of secreted type IIA phospholipase A2 gene transcription by interleukin-1beta. Role of C/EBP factors

Secreted type IIA phospholipase A(2), which is involved in arachidonic acid release, is abundantly produced by chondrocytes and secreted in the synovial fluids of patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis. Transfection experiments showed that interleukin-1beta stimulates the phospholipase A(2) [-1614; +20] promoter activity by 6-7-fold and that the [-210; -176] fragment is critical for this stimulation. CAAT enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) beta and C/EBPdelta transcription factors bind to this element as shown by bandshift experiments. Interleukin-1beta increased the levels of C/EBPdelta mRNA as soon as 2 h and up to 24 h without affecting those of C/EBPbeta. Higher amounts of C/EBPdelta proteins correlate with the stimulation of C/EBPdelta mRNA. Mutations or 5' deletions in the upstream [-247; -210] region reduced by 2-fold the basal and interleukin-1beta-stimulated transcription activities. Two types of factors bind to overlapping sequences on this fragment: NF1-like proteins and the glucocorticoid receptor. The glucocorticoid receptor is responsible for a moderate stimulation of the promoter activity by dexamethasone and may interact with C/EBP factors to achieve a full transcription activity in basal conditions and in the presence of interleukin-1beta. A [-114; -85] proximal regulatory element forms three complexes in bandshift experiments, the slowest mobility one involving the Sp1 zinc finger factor. Mutation of this sequence reduced to 2-fold the stimulation of the promoter activity by interleukin-1beta or the C/EBP factors. Induction of the transcription of secreted type IIA phospholipase A(2) gene by interleukin-1beta in chondrocytes absolutely requires C/EBPbeta and C/EBPdelta factors but does not involve NF-kappaB.

A functional NF-kappaB binding site in the human papillomavirus type 16 long control region

By computer search, we identified one potential NF-kappaB binding site in the HPV16 long control region (LCR) at position 7554-7563 having two mismatches in comparison to the consensus NF-kappaB binding site of the Igkappa L promoter. Bandshift experiments with nuclear extracts from HeLa cells or purified glutathione S-transferase-p65 fusion protein clearly demonstrated that NF-kappaB is able to bind to this region of the LCR. However, in comparison to NF-kappaB binding on a consensus probe, the affinity of NF-kappaB for this site is about 250-fold reduced. When mutations were introduced into this NF-kappaB binding site, the activity of the LCR was increased, strongly suggesting that NF-kappaB was acting as a transcriptional repressor in the context of the HPV16 LCR. In addition, overexpression of NF-kappaB p65 repressed the activity of the HPV16 LCR, strengthening this conclusion.

Effect of glucocorticoid hormones on viral gene expression, growth, and dysplastic differentiation in HPV16-immortalized ectocervical cells

Steroid hormones are proposed to act as cofactors with human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in the etiology of cervical cancer. We and others reported that progesterone and glucocorticoid hormones induce the expression of HPV16 via three glucocorticoid response elements (GREs) in the viral regulatory region. Consensus GREs (GREcs) are useful in other systems for examining the effect of hormones after enhancing the response with mutated GREc constructs. Therefore, this study used human ectocervical cells (HEC) and HPV type 16 containing three GREcs to establish immortalized cells (HEC-16GREc). Northern blot assays showed that the level of viral E6-E7 oncogene RNA was increased by hormones substantially more in HEC-16GREc than in wild-type HPV16-immortalized human ectocervical cells (HEC-16). The saturation density and the hormone response of the growth rate were significantly higher for HEC-16GREc and the doubling was faster in the presence of hormone than for HEC-16. Although both were nontumorigenic, only HEC-16GREc showed anchorage-independent growth, which was dependent on hormone. Also, HEC-16GREc were more abnormal in their epithelium differentiation pattern in organotypic (raft) cultures. Furthermore, hormone-treated HEC-16GREc rafts showed more dysplastic features than hormone-treated HEC-16 rafts. These results suggest new features of the role of hormones: that enhanced expression of viral oncogenes in response to hormones apparently confers a greater risk for cervical cells containing HPV16. Further, HEC-16GREc could be ideal for studying hormone-dependent and -independent malignant transformation.