Objective: To summarize the significance of methylation in HPV16 genome to cervix cancerogenesis.
Design: Review.
Setting: Department of Oncological and Experimental Pathology, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Brno.
Subject and method: Human papillomaviruses, especially HPV16, are the most frequent causative agents of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical carcinoma. Their ability to initiate transformation of infected epithelial cells fully depends up production of viral early phase proteins E6 and E7. Affected keratinocytes activate defensive mechanisms based on inhibition of viral DNA transcription by changes in chromatin structure like DNA methylation or histon deacetylation and therefore prevent transcriptional factors from binding to target promoters and from the production of viral oncoproteins.
Conclusion: Research into epigenetic mechanisms of gene silencing clearly showed their important roles in etiology of cancer. Recent findings confirm the significance of methylation of HPV16 oncogenes leading to block of neoplastic transformation, and simultaneously they indicate new therapeutic possibilities linked with reactivation of methylated tumor supressors.