Grant: Project Grant

HPVs are widespread in all populations. While certain HPV types infect our skin, others infect the mucosa of our oral cavity or anal and genital regions. Many HPV types that are sexually transmitted can lead, several years after the initial infection, to development of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women worldwide These same viruses also cause the majority of anal cancers and a growing proportion of head-and-neck cancers, in particular those affecting the base of the tongue and the tonsils. Other HPV types never give rise to cancer but cause genital warts, a frequent sexually-transmitted disease. Although vaccines have been developed to prevent infection by prevalent HPV types, there is still no antiviral-drug for treating already-infected patients. One viral protein common to all HPVs, named E1, is necessary for the virus to make copies of its own genetic material and, therefore, to propagate itself and cause disease. E1 must use several components (i.e. proteins) from the infected cell to make copies of the HPV genetic material. In this project, we will use a microscopy assays to study the process used by E1 to make copies of the HPV genome. We will test if specific cellular components that are used to make copies of our own DNA are also used by the virus. We will also identify cellular components that E1 attaches to and test if they are used to make new copies of the viral DNA. As such, our proposed studies will identify cellular components that are necessary for HPV to copy its genetic material and, thus, to cause disease. Identification of these cellular components will suggest new ways of interfering with the virus that could be used to develop antiviral drugs against HPVs.