Pathogen-host transcriptome analyses of human papillomavirus 16 E6 variants in an organotypic epithelial model

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are double-stranded DNA viruses, a subset of which, the “high-risk” HPVs, cause 5% of human cancers. HPV16 is the most common type in cancer, with its tumourigenicity resultant of the oncoproteins E6 and E7. The Asian-American (AA) and European Prototype (EP) are common HPV16 genomic variants that differ in their risk for cancer development, likely due in part to their E6 proteins differing by three amino-acids. Presently, we sought to define if the tumourigenic differences between these variants reflect unique gene expression in differentiating epithelium. RNA-Seq analyses were performed on three-dimensional organotypic epithelia, containing the viral genome either with AAE6, EPE6, or no virus.