GENE EXPRESSION PROFILE REGULATED BY THE HPV16-E7 ONCOPROTEIN AND ESTRADIOL IN CERVICAL TISSUE

The HPV16-E7 oncoprotein and 17β-estradiol are import factors for the induction of premalignant lesions and cervical cancer. The study of these factors is crucial for a better understanding of cervical tumorigenesis. In this study, we performed a microarray analysis to obtain a global gene expression profile induced by both, HPV16-E7 and 17β-estradiol in cervical tissue of K14E7 transgenic mice. We found that 17β-estradiol is the main cause of the up-regulation of a large number of cellular genes involved in the immune response whereas E7 oncoprotein mainly affects the cellular metabolism. Our microarray data also shows some novel differentially expressed genes that were not previously reported in cervical cancer. The identification of these genes, regulated by E7 and 17β-estradiol, provides the basis for further studies on their role in cervical carcinogenesis. 15 Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Affymetrix microarrays were used to analyze gene expression of cervical tissue from K14E7 hemizygote and nontransgenic FvB control virgin female untreated and treated mice. Briefly, one-month virgin female transgenic and nontransgenic mice were implanted in the dorsal skin with continuous release pellets delivering 0.05 mg of17-β estradiol over 60 days. As control samples we used K14E7 and FvB untreated mice. For the microarray analysis we used triplicates for each group (3 treated K14E7 mice, 3 treated FvB mice, 3 untreated K14E7 mice, 3 untreated FvB mice).