Molecular Mechanisms of MmuPV1 E6 and E7 and Implications for Human Disease

Viruses. 2022 Sep 28;14(10):2138. doi: 10.3390/v14102138.

Abstract

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) cause a substantial amount of human disease from benign disease such as warts to malignant cancers including cervical carcinoma, head and neck cancer, and non-melanoma skin cancer. Our ability to model HPV-induced malignant disease has been impeded by species specific barriers and pre-clinical animal models have been challenging to develop. The recent discovery of a murine papillomavirus, MmuPV1, that infects laboratory mice and causes the same range of malignancies caused by HPVs provides the papillomavirus field the opportunity to test mechanistic hypotheses in a genetically manipulatable laboratory animal species in the context of natural infections. The E6 and E7 proteins encoded by high-risk HPVs, which are the HPV genotypes associated with human cancers, are multifunctional proteins that contribute to HPV-induced cancers in multiple ways. In this review, we describe the known activities of the MmuPV1-encoded E6 and E7 proteins and how those activities relate to the activities of HPV E6 and E7 oncoproteins encoded by mucosal and cutaneous high-risk HPV genotypes.

Keywords: E6; E7; HPV; MmuPV1; animal models; papillomavirus; viral oncogenesis.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Alphapapillomavirus* / genetics
  • Animals
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Oncogene Proteins, Viral* / genetics
  • Oncogene Proteins, Viral* / metabolism
  • Papillomaviridae / genetics
  • Papillomaviridae / metabolism
  • Papillomavirus E7 Proteins / genetics
  • Papillomavirus E7 Proteins / metabolism
  • Papillomavirus Infections*
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*

Substances

  • Oncogene Proteins, Viral
  • Papillomavirus E7 Proteins