The E6 Oncoprotein from HPV16 Enhances the Canonical Wnt/?-Catenin Pathway in Skin Epidermis In Vivo

Abstract

The contribution of the Wnt signaling pathway to human papilloma virus (HPV)-induced carcinogenesis is poorly understood. In high-grade dysplastic lesions that are caused by high-risk HPVs (HR-HPV), ?-catenin is often located in the cell nucleus, which suggests that Wnt pathway may be involved in the development of HPV-related carcinomas. Most of the oncogenic potential of HR-HPVs resides on the PDZ-binding domain of E6 protein. We hypothesized that the PDZ-binding domain of the HPV16-E6 oncoprotein induces the nuclear accumulation of ?-catenin due to its capacity to degrade PDZ-containing cellular targets. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated the staining pattern of ?-catenin in the skin epidermis of transgenic mice expressing the full-length E6 oncoprotein (K14E6 mice) and measured LacZ gene expression in K14E6 mice that were crossed with a strain expressing LacZ that was knocked into the Axin2 locus (Axin2+/LacZ mice). Here, we show that the E6 oncoprotein enhances the nuclear accumulation of ?-catenin, the accumulation of cellular ?-catenin–responsive genes, and the expression of LacZ. None of these effects were observed when a truncated E6 oncoprotein that lacks the PDZ-binding domain was expressed alone (K14E6?PDZ mice) or in combination with Axin2+/LacZ. Conversely, cotransfection with either E6 or E6?PDZ similarly enhanced canonical Wnt signaling in short-term in vitro assays that used a luciferase Wnt/?-catenin/TCF-dependent promoter. We propose that the activation of canonical Wnt signaling could be induced by the HPV16-E6 oncoprotein; however, the participation of the E6 PDZ-binding domain seems to be important in in vivo models only. Mol Cancer Res; 10(2); 250–8. ©2011 AACR.

Description

Keywords

HPV, Wnt/?-catenin, K14E6, K14E6-?PDZ, Axin2+/LacZ, human papillomavirus, carcinogenesis

Citation

Copyright 2012 Molecular Cancer Research. This is a post-print version of a published paper that is available at: http://mcr.aacrjournals.org/content/10/2/250.long. Recommended citation: Bonilla-Delgado, J., G. Bulut, X. Liu, E. M. Cortés-Malagón, R. Schlegel, C. Flores-Maldonado, R. G. Contreras et al. "The E6 oncoprotein from HPV16 enhances the canonical Wnt/?-catenin pathway in skin epidermis in vivo." Molecular cancer research: MCR 10, no. 2 (2012): 250-258. DOI: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-11-0287. This item has been deposited in accordance with publisher copyright and licensing terms and with the author's permission.