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Fundamental Differences in Cell Cycle Deregulation in Human Papillomavirus–Positive and Human Papillomavirus–Negative Head/Neck and Cervical Cancers
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Fundamental Differences in Cell Cycle Deregulation in Human Papillomavirus–Positive and Human Papillomavirus–Negative Head/Neck and Cervical Cancers

Dohun Pyeon, Michael A Newton, Paul F Lambert, Johan A den Boon, Srikumar Sengupta, Carmen J Marsit, Craig D Woodworth, Joseph P Connor, Thomas H Haugen, Elaine M Smith, …
Cancer research (Chicago, Ill.), Vol.67(10), pp.4605-4619
05/15/2007
DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-3619
PMCID: PMC2858285
PMID: 17510386
url
https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-3619View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are associated with nearly all cervical cancers, 20% to 30% of head and neck cancers (HNC), and other cancers. Because HNCs also arise in HPV-negative patients, this type of cancer provides unique opportunities to define similarities and differences of HPV-positive versus HPV-negative cancers arising in the same tissue. Here, we describe genome-wide expression profiling of 84 HNCs, cervical cancers, and site-matched normal epithelial samples in which we used laser capture microdissection to enrich samples for tumor-derived versus normal epithelial cells. This analysis revealed that HPV + HNCs and cervical cancers differed in their patterns of gene expression yet shared many changes compared with HPV − HNCs. Some of these shared changes were predicted, but many others were not. Notably, HPV + HNCs and cervical cancers were found to be up-regulated in their expression of a distinct and larger subset of cell cycle genes than that observed in HPV − HNC. Moreover, HPV + cancers overexpressed testis-specific genes that are normally expressed only in meiotic cells. Many, although not all, of the hallmark differences between HPV + HNC and HPV − HNC were a direct consequence of HPV and in particular the viral E6 and E7 oncogenes. This included a novel association of HPV oncogenes with testis-specific gene expression. These findings in primary human tumors provide novel biomarkers for early detection of HPV + and HPV − cancers, and emphasize the potential value of targeting E6 and E7 function, alone or combined with radiation and/or traditional chemotherapy, in the treatment of HPV + cancers.

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